Adenoma-carcinoma sequence: A reappraisal with immunohistochemical expression of ferritin

✍ Scribed by Hsiao-Bai Yang; Ping-I Hsu; Jen-Chang Lee; Shih-Huang Chan; Xi-Zhang Lin; Dr. Nan-Haw Chow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 457 KB
• Volume: 60
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4790
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.2930600108

✦ Synopsis

To examine the biological significance of ferritin (FRN) expression, a retrospective immunohistochemical study was performed in normal colonic mucosae (n = g), adenomas (n = SS), and colorectal carcinomas (n = 104). FRN was present in some epithelia in the crypt base of normal colonic mucosae. Significant cytoplasmic staining for FRN was revealed in 26 (29.5%) cases of adenoma and 54 cases (51.9%) of adenocarcinoma.

The cancer cells had a higher proportion of FRN expression than those of adenomas or non-neoplastic mucosae (P < 0.001). Expression of FRN showed a positive association with the degree of dysplasia ( P = 0.039) and the distal location of adenoma (P = 0.013). FRN expression tended to be associated with the tumor size (P = 0.083), but no substantial difference was observed among the histologic types of adenoma ( P = 0.754). The results suggest that cytoplasmic FRN expression is associated with cellular proliferation. The proliferative index shows a significant difference through the adenoma-carcinoma sequence. Further investigation is necessary to clarify the clinical implication of FRN expression in tumor cells and normal-appearing mucosae.