Solid neuroendocrine carcinomas of the breast: metastases or primary tumors?

Abstract

Neuroendocrine breast carcinomas are rare but may represent either metastatic or primary lesions. So far, clinical and preoperative histopathological examinations do not distinguish properly between a primary or metastatic breast tumor. Due to any possible consequences following an appropriate treatment, markers which may be helpful for such a distinguishment are needed. We addressed this study in order to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of GCDFP-15 and mammaglobin in a subset of pure neuroendocrine breast carcinomas (n = 9) and compared the expression profile with a cohort of non-mammary neuroendocrine tumors (n = 99). We observed in our study that solid neuroendocrine breast carcinomas are characterized by the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors as well as GCDFP-15 and/or mammaglobin. GCDFP-15 was expressed in 6 out of 9 cases, mammaglobin was positive in 4 out of 9 tumors. In contrast, neuroendocrine tumors of the non-mammary cohort expressed neither GCDFP-15 nor mammaglobin. We conclude that mammaglobin and GCDFP-15 as markers of epithelial breast origin may work as a new and reliable diagnostic tool to distinguish primary endocrine tumors of the breast from a metastatic neuroendocrine disease. This is of utmost importance, especially for surgical management.

• Authors: Christiane Richter-Ehrenstein, Juliane Arndt, Ann-Christin Buckendahl, Jan Eucker, Wilko Weichert, Atsuko Kasajima, Achim Schneider, Aurelia Noske
• Journal: Breast cancer research and treatment (Breast Cancer Res Treat) Vol. 124 Issue 2 Pg. 413-7 (Nov 2010) ISSN: 1573-7217 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 20872069 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Evaluation Study, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Carrier Proteins
• Glycoproteins
• Membrane Transport Proteins
• PIP protein, human
• Receptors, Estrogen
• Receptors, Progesterone
• Uteroglobin

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Biomarkers, Tumor (analysis)
• Breast Neoplasms (chemistry, pathology, secondary)
• Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine (chemistry, pathology, secondary)
• Carrier Proteins (analysis)
• Diagnosis, Differential
• Female
• Gastrointestinal Neoplasms (chemistry, pathology)
• Germany
• Glycoproteins (analysis)
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Male
• Membrane Transport Proteins
• Middle Aged
• Predictive Value of Tests
• Receptors, Estrogen (analysis)
• Receptors, Progesterone (analysis)
• Retrospective Studies
• Uteroglobin (analysis)