Abstract:
This is a hospital based retrospective descriptive case study aimed to
detect the expression of cluster of differentiation molecule 117 (CD117)
in
patients
with
gastrointestinal
stromal
tumors
using
immunohistochemical method.
The study was conducted in Radiation and Isotope Center-Khartoum
(RICK) during the period from March to August 2013.
Thirty paraffin blocks were collected using simple random collection
method at Radiation and Isotope Center-Khartoum from patients who
underwent surgical resection for gastrointestinal stromal tumors. The
paraffin blocks were cut using rotary microtome, and then stained by
routine haemtoxylin and eosin for histopathology diagnosis and by
immunohistochemical method (new indirect method) for detection of
CD117.
The age of patients ranged between 1 and 75 years with mean age of 51
years. The study revealed that the most patients were older than 50 years
representing 19 (63.3%) and the remaining 11 (36.7%) were younger than
50 years.
Out of thirty samples the study showed that the predominance of patients
were males representing 18 (60.0%) and 12 (40.0%) were females.
CD117 result among study samples showed positive expression in 28
(93.3%) patients, and negative expression in 2 (6.7%) patients.
The biological behaviour of tumor in samples revealed that 23 (76.7%)
were benign and the remaining 7 (23.3%) were malignant.
The study concluded that there is a high frequency of CD117 positive
expression among gastrointestinal stromal tumors, with no statistical
association with the biological behaviour of the tumor (benign or maligna
