Verset L, Arvanitakis M, Loi P, Closset J, Delhaye M, Remmelink M, Demetter P. TTF-1 positive small cell cancers: Don’t think they’re always primary pulmonary! World J Gastrointest Oncol 2011; 3(10): 144-147 [PMID: 22046491 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v3.i10.144]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Pieter Demetter, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium. pieter.demetter@erasme.ulb.ac.be
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Laurine Verset, Myriam Remmelink, Pieter Demetter, Departments of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
Marianna Arvanitakis, Myriam Delhaye, Department of Gastroenterology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
Patricia Loi, Jean Closset, Department of Digestive Surgery, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1070 Brussels, Belgium
Author contributions: Verset L and Demetter P designed the research; Verset L, Remmelink M and Demetter P performed the research; Verset L, Arvanitakis M, Loi P, Closset J, Delhaye M, Remmelink M and Demetter P analyzed the data; Verset L and Demetter P wrote the paper.
Supported by The “Fondation Yvonne Boël” (Brussels, Belgium)
Correspondence to: Pieter Demetter, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium. pieter.demetter@erasme.ulb.ac.be
Telephone: +32-2-5553115 Fax: +32-2-5554790
Received: January 4, 2011 Revised: September 21, 2011 Accepted: September 28, 2011 Published online: October 15, 2011
Abstract
Thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1) plays a key role in morphogenesis of the lungs and is expressed in up to 90% of pulmonary small cell carcinomas. This explains why this marker is frequently used in the search for the primary origin of metastatic endocrine tumours. Here we report on a TTF-1 expressing mixed endocrine-exocrine carcinoma of the common bile duct in a patient with pulmonary nodules that did not appear to be neoplastic. TTF-1 positivity in pulmonary and extrapulmonary neuroendocrine tumours is reviewed, and we conclude that TTF-1 expression in neuroendocrine tumours of the small-cell type are not uncommon at extrapulmonary locations. Therefore, immunohistochemistry for TTF-1 in such tumours should be interpreted with caution.
