title: Interleukin-6-producing undifferentiated thymic carcinoma with neuroendocrine features.
abstract: Undifferentiated thymic carcinoma is a rare tumor of the thymus. Due to the extreme rarity of undifferentiated thymic carcinoma, very limited information about its characteristics is available. We encountered an autopsy case of a 33-year-old woman diagnosed as having an undifferentiated thymic carcinoma with a high inflammatory response. The patient's serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) was elevated to 1930 pg/ml, and immunohistochemical staining of the carcinoma cells was positive for neuroendocrine markers and IL-6. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an IL-6-producing undifferentiated thymic carcinoma with neuroendocrine features that shows a novel potential to produce IL-6.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Naofumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shinagawa
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oizumi
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fugo
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001706:Biopsy; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015850:Interleukin-6; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C087079:pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (31-98); D002097:C-Reactive Protein