title: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors in a baboon, a spider monkey, and a chimpanzee and a review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are believed to originate from the intestinal pacemaker cells (interstitial cells of Cajal) or their progenitor cells. Spontaneous tumors have been reported in dogs, horses, rhesus, and a chimpanzee and they have been produced experimentally in mice and rats. GISTs represent a diagnostic challenge because they cannot be differentiated from non-lymphoid mesenchymal tumors without using human c-kit (CD117) immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three neoplasms were incidental findings at necropsy in the stomachs of a baboon and a spider monkey and in the rectum of a chimpanzee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The GISTs were initially diagnosed grossly and histologically with hematoxylin and eosin as leiomyomas. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that all three were c-kit (CD117) positive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These are the first reports of GISTs in the baboon and spider monkey and the second in a chimpanzee. The occurrence of GISTs in non-human primates may provide a unique opportunity to study these tumors.
authors.affiliation: Southwest National Primate Research Center at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, TX 76227-5301, USA.
authors.forename: Y R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Bommineni
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Hubbard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053819:Atelinae; D005260:Female; D046152:Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D010215:Papio; D018419:Primate Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit