Cytokeratin 20-positive hepatocellular carcinoma

Submitted: 1 December 2009
Accepted: 1 December 2009
Published: 9 December 2009
Abstract Views: 1471
PDF: 732
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

The differential diagnosis between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CC) and metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma (MCA) may be difficult when only based on morphology. For this purpose immunohistochemical analyses are often required, utilizing antibodies directed against CK8- 18, Hep-Par1, glypican 3, CK7, CK19, CK20. Here we report a case of a 65-year-old man who presented with a clinical picture of decompensated cirrhosis. Ultrasonography revealed two nodular areas in the right liver lobe. Liver needle biopsy revealed micro-macronodular cirrhosis associated with HCC with trabecular and pseudoglandular patterns. Immunohistochemically, tumour cells were diffusely positive for CK8- 18 and also diffusely immunostained by glypican 3 and Hep- Par1. Interestingly, a diffuse and strong staining for CK20 was detected in the vast majority of tumor cells, particularly in the areas showing a pseudo-glandular pattern. No immunostaining for CK7 and CK19 was found in the tumor cells. The tumor behaved aggressively, with a rapid diffusion to the whole liver. The patient died from the disease few months after presentation. These findings underline that the interpretation of the expression of CK20 alone in the differential diagnosis among HCC, CC and MCA should be done with caution because a diffuse immunoreactivity for CK20 alone may not rule out the diagnosis of HCC.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

How to Cite

Fanni, D., Nemolato, S., Ganga, R., Senes, G., Gerosa, C., Van Eyken, P., … Faa, G. (2009). Cytokeratin 20-positive hepatocellular carcinoma. European Journal of Histochemistry, 53(4), e32. https://doi.org/10.4081/ejh.2009.e32

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.