During mitosis, 2 centrosomes ensure accurate assembly of bipolar spindles and fidelity of the chromosomal segregation. The presence of more than 2 copies of centrosomes during mitosis can result in the formation of multipolar spindles, unbalanced chromosome segregation, and
aneuploidy. Recent studies have provided evidence that centrosome hyperamplification plays a pivotal role in
carcinogenesis. Using immunofluorescence analysis with
gamma-tubulin and
pericentrin antibodies,
paraffin-embedded sections from 40 malignant biliary diseases including
gallbladder cancers (GC; n = 13), intrahepatic
cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC; n = 19), and extrahepatic bile duct
cancers (BDC; n = 8) were examined. Thirty-seven benign biliary diseases including chronic
cholecystitis, gallbladder
adenoma, hepatolithiasis, and
choledochal cyst were included as benign controls. The frequencies of the centrosome abnormalities were 70% for GC, 58% for CCC, and 50% for BDC, respectively. The frequencies of centrosome abnormalities in malignant biliary diseases were significantly higher than in their benign counterparts (GC, CCC, BDC; P =.001,.002, and.001, respectively). The results of current study also indicated that biliary
malignancy in the advanced stage (III-IV) displayed a higher frequency of centrosome abnormalities than in the early stage (I-II) (P <.001). We conclude that abnormalities in size, number, and shape of the centrosome are frequently observed in biliary tract
malignancy. Centrosome abnormalities started to occur in the early stage of biliary
malignancy and became very frequent in the advanced stage. This implies that centrosome abnormality might relate to the transition from early to advanced
malignancy in biliary
malignancy.