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. 2017 Nov 15;9(11):436-443.
doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v9.i11.436.

Paradoxical expression pattern of the epithelial mesenchymal transition-related biomarkers CD44, SLUG, N-cadherin and VSIG1/Glycoprotein A34 in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Attila Kövecsi  1 , Simona Gurzu  1 , Zoltan Szentirmay  2 , Zsolt Kovacs  1 , Tivadar Jr Bara  3 , Ioan Jung  1
Affiliations

Paradoxical expression pattern of the epithelial mesenchymal transition-related biomarkers CD44, SLUG, N-cadherin and VSIG1/Glycoprotein A34 in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Attila Kövecsi et al. World J Gastrointest Oncol. .

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of five biomarkers, commonly involved in epithelial mesenchymal/mesenchymal epithelial transition (EMT/MET), in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).

Methods: In 80 consecutive GISTs the IHC examinations were performed using the EMT-related antibodies E-cadherin, N-cadherin, SLUG, V-set and immunoglobulin domain containing 1 (VSIG1) and CD44.

Results: The positivity rate was 88.75% for SLUG, 83.75% for VSIG1, 36.25% for CD44 and 10% for N-cadherin. No correlation was noted between the examined markers and clinicopathological parameters. Nuclear positivity for SLUG and VSIG1 was observed in all cases with distant metastasis. The extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors (e-GISTs) expressed nuclear positivity for VSIG1 and SLUG, with infrequent positivity for N-cadherin and CD44. The low overall survival was mainly dependent on VSIG1 negativity (P = 0.01) and nuclear positivity for SLUG and/or CD44.

Conclusion: GIST aggressivity may be induced by nuclear up-regulation of SLUG and loss or cytoplasm-to-nuclear translocation of VSIG1. SLUG and VSIG1 may act as activated nuclear transcription factors. The CD44, but not N-cadherin, might also have an independent prognostic value in these tumors. The role of the EMT/MET-related transcription factors in the evolution of GISTs, should be revisited with a larger dataset. This is the first study exploring the IHC pattern of VSIG1 in GISTs.

Keywords: Glycoprotein A34; N-cadherin; SLUG; V-set and immunoglobulin domain containing gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunohistochemical profile of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (× 20). A: Cytoplasmic expression of N-cadherin; B: Cytoplasmic expression of CD44; C: Membrane positivity of CD44.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Subcellular localization of the immunohistochemical markers (nuclear and/or cytoplasmic) in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (× 20). A, B: SLUG; C, D: V set and immunoglobulin domain containing 1 (VSIG1).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Kaplan Meier survival analysis in gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Immunoexpression of some epithelial mesenchymal/mesenchymal epithelial transition-related markers influences the overall survival.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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