title: Increased neuroendocrine cells in resected metastases compared to primary colorectal adenocarcinomas.
abstract: Neuroendocrine differentiation has been described in rectal adenocarcinomas receiving neoadjuvant therapy prior to radical surgery, but its clinical relevance is controversial and no data are currently available in colorectal carcinoma metastases as compared to primary tumors. The presence of chromogranin A positive tumor cells was investigated by means of immunohistochemistry on surgical specimens from 54 primary colorectal carcinomas and their corresponding metastases, resected at diagnosis or during tumor progression. In 47 patients, tumor metastases were resected 1 month to 12 years after chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, while in the remaining seven patients no additional therapy after primary surgery was performed. In primary tumors, neuroendocrine differentiation was found in 12/54 cases (22.2%) as compared to 25/54 metastatic lesions (46.3%; p = 0.01). The presence of neuroendocrine phenotype was not correlated with any clinical pathological parameter nor with a different proliferation index. However, patients having neuroendocrine cells in the primary tumor had a significantly shorter survival from the time of metastatic spread than those having not (33.3 vs. 55.5 months; p = 0.04). In summary, our data show that colorectal carcinoma metastases contain a higher percentage of neuroendocrine differentiated cells as compared to their corresponding primaries, a finding possibly related to the influence of chemotherapy in neuroendocrine differentiation during colorectal carcinoma progression.
authors.affiliation: University of Turin at San Luigi Hospital, Orbassano, Torino, Italy. marco.volante@unito.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Volante
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marci
authors.forename: Snezana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andrejevic-Blant
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tavaglione
authors.forename: Maria Carla
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Sculli
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tampellini
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papotti
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D053379:Chromogranin A / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D055099:Neuroendocrine Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary; D010534:Peritoneal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary
chemical_list: D053379:Chromogranin A
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