Endocrine and neuroendocrine tumours
Pat Price, Karol Sikora in Treatment of Cancer, 2014
Carcinoid tumours are now best referred to as NETs and their organ of origin is defined, with the carcinoid ‘syndrome’ limited to the symptoms and signs as defined later. However, some authors retain this term, first used by Oberndorfer in 1908. They most commonly occur in the gastrointestinal tract and arise from the argentaffin cells, essentially a pathological staining technique that identifies certain types of neuroendocrine cells. The most common sites are the appendix, small bowel and rectum. The overall incidence of appendiceal carcinoids is 1 in 150 to 1 in 1000, according to appendix histology reports. The histopathological reporting of appendiceal carcinoids is relatively more common in the appendix specimens of young adults than the elderly, which mirrors the incidence of argentaffin cells in the body, the total number of which rises and then falls in later life. This observation also implies an involution of some benign carcinoid tumours. Appendiceal carcinoid tumours are almost invariably benign; those rare examples that have metastasized have all been more than 2 cm in diameter (itself a remarkable rarity for a carcinoid at this level), and there are defined criteria for taking a more aggressive therapeutic stance.
Intermediate Biomarkers of Increased Susceptibility to Cancer of the Large Intestine
Leonard H. Augenlicht in Cell and Molecular Biology of Colon Cancer, 2019
The spatial and kinetic parameters of normally proliferating and differentiating colonic epithelial cells and those of normal esophagus and stomach have been described in many studies (reviewed recently in Reference 3). Briefly, in the normal colon epithelial cells are columnar, mucous, and enteroendocrine, and the proliferative region of the large intestine normally occupies the basal or deeper three quarters of the crypts. Cells migrate to cover the surface of the colonic crypts and are extruded from the mucosal surface in 3 to 8 d in man3-8 and in 2 to 3 d in rodents.9 Argentaffin (enteroendocrine) cells of the human rectal mucosa undergo slow renewal in 35 to 100 d.10 Among factors that modify cell proliferation rates are circadian rhythm,11 hormonal and nutritional elements,12-16 and autonomic neural controls.17,18
Malignant Neoplasms of the Colon
Philip H. Gordon, Santhat Nivatvongs, Lee E. Smith, Scott Thorn Barrows, Carla Gunn, Gregory Blew, David Ehlert, Craig Kiefer, Kim Martens in Neoplasms of the Colon, Rectum, and Anus, 2007
Foregut carcinoids, which are argentaffin negative and argyrophil positive, produce the serotonin precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan. Midgut carcinoids are usually both argyrophil positive and argentaffin positive, are frequently multicentric in origin, and may be associated with the carcinoid syndrome. Hindgut carcinoids are rarely argyrophil positive or argentaffin positive, are usually unicentric, and are not usually associated with the carcinoid syndrome (Fig. 67). The carcinoid syndrome is a rare clinical entity that occurs with a prevalence of 1.6% in patients with carcinoids and almost only if liver metastases are present (1047). Berardi (1041) estimated that < 5% of colonic carcinoids cause the carcinoid syndrome. In a series by Rosenberg and Welch (1036), 4.2% of patients either had symptoms suggestive of the syndrome or elevated 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels.
Salivary myoepithelial cells: an addendum
Published in Ultrastructural Pathology, 2018
Asterios Triantafyllou, Lauge Hjorth Mikkelsen, Douglas R. Gnepp, Simon Andreasen, Jennifer L. Hunt, Kenneth O. Devaney, Vincent Vander Poorten, Alessandra Rinaldo, Stefan M. Willems, Alfio Ferlito
Hamperl outlined regressive changes affecting the human mammary myoepithelium.46 He also drew attention to the accumulation of argentaffin lipofuscin in myoepithelial cells of the human submandibular gland in old age, but the published photomicrograph (Figure 4 in 46) suggests that some of the lipofuscin laden cells may be serous acinar rather than myoepithelial. However, electron microscopy showed abundant lipofuscin in myoepithelial cells of feline salivary glands experimentally obstructed via ductal ligation (Figure 3, 5).1,18
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