Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2007 Jun;50(6):519-524.

Clinical Significance of c-kit Protein Expression and c-kit Gene Mutation in Nasopharyngeal Cancer

• Kang IG
• Lee SH
• Jung KY
• Woo JS
• Baek SK
• Cho SH
• Lee SW
• Kwon SY
• Kim IS

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The proto-oncogene c-kit is a receptor tyrosine kinase recognized to initiate essential signal transduction pathways that transmit biological signals for cellular proliferation, differentiation and metastasis. Aberrant expression or mutation of c-kit has been shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of many cancers. In this study, with the aim of identifying additional groups of tumors that may use the stem cell factor/c-kit pathway, we investigated the expression of c-kit in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
In this retrospective study, immunohistochemical stains for c-kit were performed on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded sections from 20 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were treated from 1996 to 2004. Gene mutation was analyzed by PCR-SSCP and direct sequencing.
RESULTS
c-kit over-expression was found in 65% (13/20) of patients. Eight of the 13 samples (61.5%) exhibited strongly positive immunoreactivity for c-kit protein (staining of >50% of the tumor cells). c-kit gene mutation was found in 4 of 20 cases by the PCR-SSCP method.
CONCLUSION
c-kit protein over-expre-ssion is found in 65% of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. c-kit expression is correlated with c-kit DNA mutations and nasopharyngeal carcinoma may be potential targets for treatment with imatinib mesylate.

Keyword

Proto-oncogene; Protein c-kit; Mutation; Nasopharyngeal cancer

MeSH Terms

Cell Proliferation
Coloring Agents
DNA
Humans
Mesylates
Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms*
Neoplasm Metastasis
Paraffin
Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit*
Proto-Oncogenes
Retrospective Studies
Signal Transduction
Stem Cells
Imatinib Mesylate
Coloring Agents
DNA
Mesylates
Paraffin
Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit