Aberrantly expressed GFRα-1/RET in patients with lacrimal adenoid cystic carcinoma is associated with high recurrence risk: a retrospective study of 51 LACC cases

• 作者: Lin Liu Liqiong Zhao Jie Zhang Guoxiang Song Carol L.Shields Ruihua Wei
• 来源期刊: 癌症生物学与医学（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（1）
• 所属期刊栏目: ORIGINAL ARTICLE
• 页码范围: 199-205
• 页数: 7页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2020.0271

摘要

Objective: Because of the poor prognosis of lacrimal adenoid cystic carcinoma (LACC), we aimed to investigate the effects of perineural invasion (PNI) and consequent aberrations in GDNF/GFRα-1/RET protein expression on LACC recurrence. Methods: Clinicopathological data for 51 histologically confirmed patients with LACC enrolled between 2001 and 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was applied to assess PNI. Tissue-based immunohistochemistry (IHC) detection of GDNF, GFRα-1, and RET proteins was performed on LACC formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens. We generated semi-quantitative data of the IHC results and compared them with the clinicopathological data for the 51 patients. Results: Of the 51 patients, 19 (37.3％) were PNI positive. Recurrence was more common for LACC with than without PNI (73.7％ vs. 37.5％, P = 0.01). GDNF, GFRα-1, and RET proteins were expressed in 62.7％, 62.7％, and 54.9％ of the 51 patients with LACC, respectively. The expression of all 3 proteins was more common in patients with than without PNI. In agreement with previous findings, PNI-associated GFRα-1 and RET positivity, as detected by IHC, remained significantly associated with recurrence, whereas GDNF expression, as detected by IHC, was not correlated with LACC recurrence. Specifically, patients with concurrent GFRα-1 and RET expression may have a high risk of PNI (89.5％ positivity rate) and recurrence (84.2％ positivity rate). Conclusions: PNI may contribute to LACC recurrence. The concurrent expression of GFRα-1 and RET proteins, as detected by IHC, may potentially be associated with LACC PNI and recurrence.