c-kit expression in adenoid cystic carcinoma does not have an impact on local or distant tumor recurrence.
BACKGROUND
Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a neoplasm with unpredictable behavior with frequent late relapses that lacks good prognostic indicators. c-kit tyrosine kinase oncogene has recently been found to be expressed in ACC. The aim of this study is to correlate the expression of c-kit in ACC with clinical follow-up.


METHODS
Paraffin sections of 45 cases of ACC diagnosed during a 15-year period were immunostained for c-kit.


RESULTS
Seventy-eight percent of tumors stained positive for c-kit. Mean follow-up time was 6 years. No degree/pattern of c-kit expression correlated to local or distant tumor recurrence. However, there was a significant association between surgical margin involvement by tumor and cell membrane expression of c-kit. Staining quality was not affected by storage time.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that expression of c-kit may not serve as a useful marker for predicting outcome in ACC, although they need to be confirmed in a larger patient population with longer clinical follow-up.
Aslan
Deniz L
DL
University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Fairview-UMC Surgical Pathology, C422 MMC76, 420 Delaware St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Oprea
Gabriela M
GM
Jagush
Shanna M
SM
Gulbahce
H Evin
HE
Adams
George L
GL
Gaffney
Patrick M
PM
Savik
Kay
K
Pambuccian
Stefan E
SE
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003528:Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000378:metabolism*; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy
D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit