Expression of irnmunoreactivities to 75 kDa nerve growth factor receptor, trk gene product and phosphotyrosine in granular cell tumors

Abstract

Nineteen granular cell tumors (GCT) of adults, two congenital granular cell epulides and five epulides fibrosae were immunohistochemically examined to detect the expression of 75 kDa nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR), trk gene product, phosphotyrosine (PT), protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5) and S-100 protein. The NGFR-immunoreactivity (IR) and trk gene product-IR were expressed on almost all granular cells of GCT. PT-IR was also demonstrated on granular cells of all GCT examined, although the frequency of positive cells was low. Congenital granular cell epulides and epulides fibrosae were negative for NGFR-IR, trk gene product-IR and PT-IR. S-100 protein was localized in granular cells of adult GCT but not in the granular cells of congenital epulis. On the other hand, PGP9.5 was detected in granular cells of both conditions and in fibroblastic cells of epulis fibrosa. The present results further indicate that GCT is of peripheral nerve Schwann cell origin, while the congenital granular cell epulides are not of neural origin. NGFR and trk gene product expressed on GCT seems to be functional in terms of phosphorylation of the tyrosine residue in the receptor or downstream protein in signal transduction.

Congenital granular cell epulis presents an immunohistochemical profile that distinguishes it from the granular cell tumor of the adult

“…PGP9.5 and NGFR/p75 had been previously studied in only two lesions [23], with results similar to ours, i.e., the granular cells were found to be PGP9.5 positive and NGFR/p75 negative. NKI/C3 and inhibin-α had not been investigated before in CGCE: our results revealed that the granular cells were positive for NKI/C3 but negative for inhibin-α.…”

“…Table 4 summarizes the results derived from the English-language literature of the most common markers that have been used for this purpose. The table includes only studies that have been performed since 1990 as it coincides with the standardization of the laboratory techniques of immunohistochemistry [2,6,8,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. There are a total of 13 previous studies on 28 lesions and the five additional lesions from the present study.…”

“…Several theories have been proposed, including origins from odontogenic epithelium, fibroblasts, histiocytes, smooth muscle, nerve-related cells, endothelial cells, pericytes, myofibroblasts, and undifferentiated mesenchymal cells (Table 1) [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In search of the origin of the granular cells, numerous epithelial, myogenous, neurogenous, neuroendocrine, vascular, fibroblastic, histiocytic, and hormonal immunostains have been tested.…”

Gingival granular cell tumor of the newborn: a case report and review of literature

“…This tumor is a variant of the granular cell tumor and is S-100 negative immunohistochemically and does not show any differentiation specific to any cell type (1,10). Our case was also negative with the S-100 immune marker.…”

“…The etiology and histogenesis of the tumor are controversial. Newborn GCT is a different entity than in the adult with different immunohistochemical features (1). We present a rare case of newborn GCT and review the literature.…”