Diagnostic utility of GLUT1 in the differential diagnosis of liver carcinomas.
OBJECTIVE
Malignant cells require high energy via glycolytic generation of ATP for cell proliferation and survival. This process is thought to be mediated by glucose transporters (GLUTs). GLUT1 appears to be expressed aberrantly in many cancers. The liver is the main organ closely related to glycogen metabolism and it is thought that GLUT expression might be altered in the tumors arising in the liver.


METHODS
We studied GLUT1 expression in 22 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and 16 cholangiocarcinomas (CC) and compared it to the expression of hepatocyte specific antigen (HSA) and cytokeratin 19 (CK19) by immunohistochemical studies.


RESULTS
In HCC, GLUT1 was expressed in 4.5% (1/22), HSA in 77.3% (17/22) and CK19 in none (0/22). In CC, GLUT1 was expressed in 81.3% (13/16), HSA in none (0/16) and CK19 in 100% (16/16). Interestingly, GLUT1 was not expressed in normal hepatocytes and bile duct epithelium around the tumor, whereas CK19 was expressed in normal bile ducts and tumor cells.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that GLUT1 might be related to development of bile duct carcinoma and its expression was a more reliable marker for detection of bile duct carcinoma than CK19. Additionally, GLUT1 might potentially be useful as a means of distinguishing CC from HCC.
Roh
Mee Sook
MS
Department of Pathology, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Jeong
Jin Sook
JS
Kim
Young Hoon
YH
Kim
Min Chan
MC
Hong
Sook Hee
SH
D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; C495677:SLC2A1 protein, human; D007633:Keratins