The tyrosine kinase receptor protein c-kit exerts a broad range of activities during organogenesis and normal cell development. It is involved in the development of multiple haematopoietic cell lines, mast cells, melanogenesis, interstitial cells of Cajal and gametogenesis. Recent studies have revealed that over-expression of c-kit protein occurs in a narrow subset of malignant neoplasms, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors, myeloid leukemias, seminomas and adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACC). C-kit reportedly is not expressed in polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma (PLGA).We examined the expression of the c-kit antigen in the malignant salivary gland neoplasms ACC and PLGA and compared it to its expression in the benign salivary gland tumor monomorphic adenoma (including trabecular adenoma, canalicular adenoma and basal cell adenoma). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections of 49 salivary gland neoplasms (17 monomorphic adenomas, 17 PLGA and 15 ACC) accessioned between 1989 and 2002 were retrieved from the files of the

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract