Expression of CD117, Nestin and ki-67 in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors and its Clinical Significance

Objective To investigate the expression of CD117, Nestin and Ki-67 in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and its relationship with the clinicopathological features and distinguishing malignant from benign of GIST. Methods The expression of CD117,Nestin and Ki-67 was detected with S-P staining and distinguishing malignant from benign in all cases based on the observations of light microscopy.Then the correlation between immunohistochemical findings and the clinicopathological features (gender, age,location and histological type) and distinguished malignant from benign of GIST were analyzed.Results Of 27 GIST,the positive rates of CD117 and CD34 were 88.9% and 92.6% , respectively. The Ki-67 proliferation indices were 1% ,1%-5% and 5% in 7,9 and 11 patients,respectively.Expression of CD117,CD34 and Ki-67 had no significant difference between groups in gender,age and histological types. The number of patients at benign,potential malignant and malignant was 6,9 and12 respectively. Further data showed that expression of CD117 and Nestin proteins had no significant difference between different benign and malignant. Nevertheless,Ki-67 protein had higher expression in higher risk cases(P0.01). Conclusion CD117 and Nestin, both highly expressed in GIST, can serve as diagnostic markers for GIST, but can not be used for assessing the risk of patients. The expression of Ki-67 protein might be a risk indicator for GIST and a predictor for prognosis.