Fascin expression and its potential significance in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Background/aims: Fascin is an actin-bundling protein that is important in cell motility. Fascin expression has been shown to have a potential role in tumor progression for some epithelial tumors. However, there are only a few studies related to its expression in mesenchymal tumors. We investigated fascin expression in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Methods: Thirty gastrointestinal stromal tumors, which were very low (n=6), low (n=2), moderate (n=4), and high (n=18) risk, constituted our series. Immunohistochemical expression of fascin was studied in all cases.

Results: Immunoreactivity was observed in only five cases, all of which were in the high-risk group. The remaining cases (25/30) showed no immunoreactivity, and the difference did not seem statistically important (p=0.261). Fascin expression was stronger in epithelioid cells than spindle-shaped cells (p=0.003). In addition, gastrointestinal stromal tumors in the small bowel showed higher fascin expression than those in the other localizations (p=0.043).

Conclusions: It seems that anatomic localization and the tumor cell type of gastrointestinal stromal tumors show statistically significant differences with regard to fascin expression. Although our series is limited, we think that fascin should be considered as a marker that is worthy of further study for its potential usage as a prognostic indicator in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.