title: Prostate cancer with Paneth cell-like neuroendocrine differentiation and extensive perineural invasion: coincidence or causal relationship?
abstract: The case of a 74-year-old man is reported who suffered from a locally advanced prostate cancer treated by neoadjuvant hormonal ablation, followed by prostatectomy. Histological examination of the prostatectomy specimen disclosed an adenocarcinoma with partial, Paneth-like, neuroendocrine differentiation. Extensive perineural tumor invasion was found with a total of 921 perineural tumor foci. Neuroendocrine differentiation of tumor cells was accentuated in perineural locations and was associated with an elevated expression of N-CAM and vimentin, and a reduced expression of E-Cadherin and Ki-67. We hypothesize that neuroendocrine differentiation may promote perineural invasion of prostate cancer cells by a "catherin-switch" and by mechanisms involving epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, University of Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kakies
authors.forename: Oliver W
authors.initials: OW
authors.lastname: Hakenberg
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gunia
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erbersdobler
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism; D019879:Paneth Cells; D011379:Prognosis; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D014746:Vimentin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D014746:Vimentin