This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Advances in pathological diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumors
Jian-Fang Liang, Hui-Xia Zheng, Hong Xiao, Li-Na Wu, Hong-Kun Wang
Jian-Fang Liang, Hui-Xia Zheng, Hong Xiao, Li-Na Wu, Hong-Kun Wang, Department of Pathology, the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi Province, China
Correspondence to: Professor Jian-Fang Liang, Department of Pathology, the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, 85 Jiefang South Road, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi Province, China. jfliang2000@yahoo.com.cn
Received: November 16, 2009 Revised: December 17, 2009 Accepted: December 21, 2009 Published online: January 8, 2010
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. The pathogenesis of GIST may be associated with the mutations of oncogenic c-kit or platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA). The pathological diagnosis of GIST needs a combined approach of macropathology, histopathology, immunohistochemistry and gene testing. Preoperative diagnosis is very important for patients with GIST, especially for those needing individualized treatment. In this article, we will review the recent advances in pathological diagnosis of GIST and the consensus criteria for risk stratification of GIST. Besides, we will also summarize the molecular biological parameters used for evaluation of the biological behavior of GIST.
Gelen T, Elpek GO, Aksoy NH, Ogüş M, Keleş N. p27 Labeling index and proliferation in gastrointestinal stromal tumors: correlations with clinicopathologic factors and recurrence.Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2003;33:346-352.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Miettinen M, Sobin LH, Lasota J. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the stomach: a clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular genetic study of 1765 cases with long-term follow-up.Am J Surg Pathol. 2005;29:52-68.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Terada T. Gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the uterus: a case report with genetic analyses of c-kit and PDGFRA genes.Int J Gynecol Pathol. 2009;28:29-34.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Biasco G, Velo D, Angriman I, Astorino M, Baldan A, Baseggio M, Basso U, Battaglia G, Bertin M, Bertorelle R. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: report of an audit and review of the literature.Eur J Cancer Prev. 2009;18:106-116.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Miettinen M, Monihan JM, Sarlomo-Rikala M, Kovatich AJ, Carr NJ, Emory TS, Sobin LH. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors/smooth muscle tumors (GISTs) primary in the omentum and mesentery: clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 26 cases.Am J Surg Pathol. 1999;23:1109-1118.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Tabone-Eglinger S, Subra F, El Sayadi H, Alberti L, Tabone E, Michot JP, Théou-Anton N, Lemoine A, Blay JY, Emile JF. KIT mutations induce intracellular retention and activation of an immature form of the KIT protein in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.Clin Cancer Res. 2008;14:2285-2294.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Mearadji A, den Bakker MA, van Geel AN, Eggermont AM, Sleijfer S, Verweij J, de Wilt JH, Verhoef C. Decrease of CD117 expression as possible prognostic marker for recurrence in the resected specimen after imatinib treatment in patients with initially unresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a clinicopathological analysis.Anticancer Drugs. 2008;19:607-612.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Caputo A, Caci E, Ferrera L, Pedemonte N, Barsanti C, Sondo E, Pfeffer U, Ravazzolo R, Zegarra-Moran O, Galietta LJ. TMEM16A, a membrane protein associated with calcium-dependent chloride channel activity.Science. 2008;322:590-594.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Yang YD, Cho H, Koo JY, Tak MH, Cho Y, Shim WS, Park SP, Lee J, Lee B, Kim BM. TMEM16A confers receptor-activated calcium-dependent chloride conductance.Nature. 2008;455:1210-1215.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Miettinen M, Wang ZF, Lasota J. DOG1 antibody in the differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a study of 1840 cases.Am J Surg Pathol. 2009;33:1401-1408.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Espinosa I, Lee CH, Kim MK, Rouse BT, Subramanian S, Montgomery K, Varma S, Corless CL, Heinrich MC, Smith KS. A novel monoclonal antibody against DOG1 is a sensitive and specific marker for gastrointestinal stromal tumors.Am J Surg Pathol. 2008;32:210-218.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Miwa S, Nakajima T, Murai Y, Takano Y, Sugiyama T. Mutation assay of the novel gene DOG1 in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).J Gastroenterol. 2008;43:531-537.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Heinrich MC, Corless CL, Duensing A, McGreevey L, Chen CJ, Joseph N, Singer S, Griffith DJ, Haley A, Town A. PDGFRA activating mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.Science. 2003;299:708-710.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Lasota J, Miettinen M. Clinical significance of oncogenic KIT and PDGFRA mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumours.Histopathology. 2008;53:245-266.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Martín J, Poveda A, Llombart-Bosch A, Ramos R, López-Guerrero JA, García del Muro J, Maurel J, Calabuig S, Gutierrez A, González de Sande JL. Deletions affecting codons 557-558 of the c-KIT gene indicate a poor prognosis in patients with completely resected gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a study by the Spanish Group for Sarcoma Research (GEIS).J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:6190-6198.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Kontogianni-Katsarou K, Dimitriadis E, Lariou C, Kairi-Vassilatou E, Pandis N, Kondi-Paphiti A. KIT exon 11 codon 557/558 deletion/insertion mutations define a subset of gastrointestinal stromal tumors with malignant potential.World J Gastroenterol. 2008;14:1891-1897.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Gajiwala KS, Wu JC, Christensen J, Deshmukh GD, Diehl W, DiNitto JP, English JM, Greig MJ, He YA, Jacques SL. KIT kinase mutants show unique mechanisms of drug resistance to imatinib and sunitinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumor patients.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106:1542-1547.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Debiec-Rychter M, Dumez H, Judson I, Wasag B, Verweij J, Brown M, Dimitrijevic S, Sciot R, Stul M, Vranck H. Use of c-KIT/PDGFRA mutational analysis to predict the clinical response to imatinib in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours entered on phase I and II studies of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group.Eur J Cancer. 2004;40:689-695.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Thalheimer A, Schlemmer M, Bueter M, Merkelbach-Bruse S, Schildhaus HU, Buettner R, Hartung E, Thiede A, Meyer D, Fein M. Familial gastrointestinal stromal tumors caused by the novel KIT exon 17 germline mutation N822Y.Am J Surg Pathol. 2008;32:1560-1565.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Heinrich MC, Owzar K, Corless CL, Hollis D, Borden EC, Fletcher CD, Ryan CW, von Mehren M, Blanke CD, Rankin C. Correlation of kinase genotype and clinical outcome in the North American Intergroup Phase III Trial of imatinib mesylate for treatment of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor: CALGB 150105 Study by Cancer and Leukemia Group B and Southwest Oncology Group.J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:5360-5367.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Agaimy A, Wünsch PH, Hofstaedter F, Blaszyk H, Rümmele P, Gaumann A, Dietmaier W, Hartmann A. Minute gastric sclerosing stromal tumors (GIST tumorlets) are common in adults and frequently show c-KIT mutations.Am J Surg Pathol. 2007;31:113-120.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Nakajima T, Miwa S, Ando T, Fujinami H, Kajiura S, Hosokawa A, Takano Y, Sugiyama T. Interstitial cells of Cajal do not harbor c-kit or PDGFRA gene mutations in patients with sporadic gastrointestinal stromal tumors.J Gastroenterol. 2009;44:426-431.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Corless CL, Schroeder A, Griffith D, Town A, McGreevey L, Harrell P, Shiraga S, Bainbridge T, Morich J, Heinrich MC. PDGFRA mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors: frequency, spectrum and in vitro sensitivity to imatinib.J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:5357-5364.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Wang WL, Hornick JL, Mallipeddi R, Zelger BG, Rother JD, Yang D, Lev DC, Trent JC, Prieto VG, Brenn T. Cutaneous and subcutaneous metastases of gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a series of 5 cases with molecular analysis.Am J Dermatopathol. 2009;31:297-300.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Suehara Y, Kondo T, Seki K, Shibata T, Fujii K, Gotoh M, Hasegawa T, Shimada Y, Sasako M, Shimoda T. Pfetin as a prognostic biomarker of gastrointestinal stromal tumors revealed by proteomics.Clin Cancer Res. 2008;14:1707-1717.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Kikuta K, Gotoh M, Kanda T, Tochigi N, Shimoda T, Hasegawa T, Katai H, Shimada Y, Suehara Y, Kawai A. Pfetin as a Prognostic Biomarker in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor: Novel Monoclonal Antibody and External Validation Study in Multiple Clinical Facilities.Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2009; Oct 7. [Epub ahead of print].
[PubMed] [DOI]
Koon N, Schneider-Stock R, Sarlomo-Rikala M, Lasota J, Smolkin M, Petroni G, Zaika A, Boltze C, Meyer F, Andersson L. Molecular targets for tumour progression in gastrointestinal stromal tumours.Gut. 2004;53:235-240.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Sakurama K, Noma K, Takaoka M, Tomono Y, Watanabe N, Hatakeyama S, Ohmori O, Hirota S, Motoki T, Shirakawa Y. Inhibition of focal adhesion kinase as a potential therapeutic strategy for imatinib-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumor.Mol Cancer Ther. 2009;8:127-134.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Nakamura N, Yamamoto H, Yao T, Oda Y, Nishiyama K, Imamura M, Yamada T, Nawata H, Tsuneyoshi M. Prognostic significance of expressions of cell-cycle regulatory proteins in gastrointestinal stromal tumor and the relevance of the risk grade.Hum Pathol. 2005;36:828-837.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Pauser U, Schmedt Auf der Günne N, Klöppel G, Merz H, Feller AC. P53 expression is significantly correlated with high risk of malignancy and epithelioid differentiation in GISTs. An immunohistochemical study of 104 cases.BMC Cancer. 2008;8:204.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Schneider-Stock R, Boltze C, Lasota J, Peters B, Corless CL, Ruemmele P, Terracciano L, Pross M, Insabato L, Di Vizio D. Loss of p16 protein defines high-risk patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a tissue microarray study.Clin Cancer Res. 2005;11:638-645.
[PubMed] [DOI]
Zhou W, Zeng X, Liu T. Aberrations of chromosome 13q in gastrointestinal stromal tumors: analysis of 91 cases by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).Diagn Mol Pathol. 2009;18:72-80.
[PubMed] [DOI]