The prevalence and clinical implications of c-kit expression in plasma cell myeloma
Abstract
To evaluate the clinical implications of c-kit (CD117) expression in plasma cell myeloma (PCM). We first evaluated the reliability of immunohistochemistry in assessing c-kit expression by comparing the results with those obtained by flow cytometry and gene expression arrays in 22 PCM and in 10 PCM cell lines. Immunohistochemical results showed a perfect concordance with those of flow cytometry; likewise, immunohistochemical and gene expression data were also concordant in all but one PCM and cell lines analysed. Then, we investigated the clinical implications of c-kit immunoreactivity in bone marrow biopsies of 85 PCM patients with a mean follow-up of 41 months. C-kit immunoreactivity was detected in 24 (28.2%) of the 85 cases and it was significantly associated with a high microvessel density, but not with traditional clinicopathological characteristics or with survival. Our findings suggest that immunohistochemistry is a reliable indicator of c-kit gene expression and reinforce the notion that approximately one-third of PCM express high levels of c-kit. The lack of association with traditional clinicopathological parameters and patient survival suggests that c-kit expression may not be an adjunct in predicting the clinical co...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
CNS Lymphoma
In CNS lymphoma, cancerous cells from lymph tissues or other parts of the body form tumors in the brain and/or spinal cord. Here is the latest research on this rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma.