C-KIT-positive undifferentiated tumor of the liver: A case reportopen access
- Authors
- Chu, HH[Chu, Hyun Hee]; Cho, BH[Cho, Baik Hwan]; Song, JS[Song, Ji Soo]; Kim, KM[Kim, Kyung Mi]; Moon, WS[Moon, Woo Sung]
- Issue Date
- Oct-2014
- Keywords
- C-KIT; Liver; Stem cell
- Citation
- ONCOLOGY LETTERS, v.8, no.4, pp.1665 - 1669
- Indexed
- SCIE
SCOPUS
- Journal Title
- ONCOLOGY LETTERS
- Volume
- 8
- Number
- 4
- Start Page
- 1665
- End Page
- 1669
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/skku/handle/2021.sw.skku/51462
- DOI
- 10.3892/ol.2014.2324
- ISSN
- 1792-1074
- Abstract
- With recent advances in cancer stem cell analysis, it has been postulated that the transformation of hepatic stem and progenitor cells underlies the development of certain liver cancers. Human C-KIT is a transmembrane type III receptor protein with intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity that has been proposed as a marker for human embryonic stem cells. In addition, human C-KIT functions in maintaining the undifferentiated state of stem cells, and has been identified as a marker for human hematopoietic and hepatic stem/progenitor cells. The present study identified an unusual case of a C-KIT-positive hepatic tumor with an undifferentiated stem cell phenotype distinct from existing descriptions of liver tumors. A 69-year-old male with Ampulla of Vater (AoV) cancer was admitted to the hospital for the treatment of a hepatic mass that was incidentally detected during evaluation of AoV cancer. Microscopically, the hepatic tumor was composed of solidly packed small, round and uniform undifferentiated cells, which resembled that of a small-blue-round-cell tumor. The immunophenotype of neoplastic cells (C-KIT+/EpCAM(+)/E-cadherin(+)/keratin 7(-)/keratin 19(-)/alpha-fetoproteinlalbumin(-)) supported primitive stem cell features with no hepatic or biliary phenotypes. Polymerase chain reaction and direct DNA sequencing revealed no C-KIT mutations. It is suggested that this tumor may have originated from transformed C-KIT+/EpCAM(+)/E-cadherin(+) cells, which are more primitive and undifferentiated than bipotential hepatic progenitor cells.
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Collections - Medicine > Department of Medicine > 1. Journal Articles
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