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Nuclear Translocation of β-Catenin Protein but Absence of β-Catenin and APC Mutation in Gastrointestinal Carcinoid Tumor

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Abstract

Background

Carcinoid tumors are a group of heterogeneous tumors with neuroendocrine differentiation and are mainly located in the gastrointestinal tract. A high frequency of cytoplasmic accumulation and/or nuclear translocation of β-catenin with frequent mutations of exon 3 of β-catenin gene in gastrointestinal carcinoid tumor has been previously described, but the role of Wnt/β-catenin/APC pathway in the genesis of carcinoid tumor remains largely unknown.

Methods

To further characterize the role of Wnt/β-catenin/APC pathway, we investigated 91 gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors and, for comparison, 26 extragastrointestinal carcinoid tumors by immunohistochemical detection of β-catenin protein and direct sequencing of exon 3 of the β-catenin gene and exon 15 of the APC gene.

Results

Cytoplasmic accumulation and/or nuclear translocation of β-catenin were found in 27 gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors (29.7%) but not in any extragastrointestinal carcinoid tumors. Interestingly, neither β-catenin nor APC gene mutation was detected in all of the cases with nuclear expression of β-catenin.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that the role β-catenin plays in the genesis of gastrointestinal and extragastrointestinal carcinoid tumors is different. Nuclear expression of β-catenin does not occur in extragastrointestinal carcinoid tumors, and mutation of exon 3 of β-catenin gene and exon 15 of APC gene does not contribute to the activation of Wnt/β-catenin/APC pathway in gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Min-Sheng General Hospital, 168 Ching-Kuo Road, Taoyuan City, Taiwan, ROC

    Min-Cheng Su MD

  2. Department of Gastroenterology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital Taipei Branch, 289 Jianguo Road, Xindian city, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Chia-Chi Wang MD

  3. Departments of Gastroenterology, Min-Sheng General Hospital, 168 Ching-Kuo Road, Taoyuan City, Taiwan, ROC

    Chun-Chin Chen MD

  4. Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Rey-Heng Hu MD, PhD & Ray-Hwang Yuan MD, PhD

  5. Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Ting-Huang Wang MS, Hsin-Lien Kao MS & Yung-Ming Jeng MD

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  1. Min-Cheng Su MD
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  2. Chia-Chi Wang MD
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Correspondence to Ray-Hwang Yuan MD, PhD.

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Su, MC., Wang, CC., Chen, CC. et al. Nuclear Translocation of β-Catenin Protein but Absence of β-Catenin and APC Mutation in Gastrointestinal Carcinoid Tumor. Ann Surg Oncol 13, 1604–1609 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-006-9072-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-006-9072-2

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