Stainability of the Peptide Hormones in Gastrointestinal Apudomas as Demonstrated by Immunoperoxidase Kits

Abstract

A series of 25 apudomas of the gastrointestinal tract (22 cases), bronchus (2 cases), and thymus (1 case) were subjected to staining with silver impregnation (Masson-Fontana and Grimelius) techniques and with the commercial immunoperoxidase kits for the peptide hormones adrenocorticotropin, calcitonin, gastrin, glucagon, growth hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), insulin, somatostatin, and vasoactive intestinal peptide. Of the tumors studied, 16 were regarded as malignant, and 5 of the patients showed clinical symptoms due to inappropriate hormone secretion. A total of 16 tumors contained cells positive for 1 or more (6 were multihormonal) of the hormones studied. One bronchial carcinoid stained for hCG, which has not been previously reported. In addition, one of the rectal carcinoids contained somatostatin-positive cells, only once described previously. The thymic tumor proved frankly malignant, most probably identical to the oat-cell carcinoma recently described. The findings also substantiate the recent suggestion that gastrointestinal carcinoids cannot be adequately classified on the basis of silver stains only and strongly advocate the use of the immunoperoxidase kits in routine assessments of all the endocrinologically active tumors, whatever their localization might be.

Key words:

• Apudomas
• carcinoid tumors
• immunoperoxidase kits
• peptide hormones