AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF GLUCAGONOMA CONDUCTED ON THE METASTATIC LYMPH-NODES FROM A PATIENT WITH RECURRENT METASTATIC GLUCAGONOMA - REPORT OF A CASE

In this report, we briefly present the case of a 67-year-old woman who developed recurrent glucagonoma with lymph node metastasis. An immuno histochemical study of the metastatic tumor revealed immunoreactivity of glucagon and protein kinase C (PKC)-alpha, -beta, and -gamma in the tumor cells, two types of which were seen by electron microscopy. One type had abundant secretory granules and mitochondria, while the othe r had few granules and mitochondria. Some granules were similar to typ ical A cell granules and others were atypical. An immunoelectron micro scopic demonstration revealed PKC-alpha, -beta, and -gamma immunostain ing in the cytoplasm of all the tumor cells, while some secretory gran ules had PKC immunostaining, and others had no immunostaining. Thus, i t appears that metastatic glucagonoma and its associated granules are composed of two types of mature and immature cells or granules. As imm unoreactivity of PKC-alpha and -gamma was found in the tumor cells, bu t not in the normal A cells of the islets of Langerhans, the PKC subsp ecies alpha and gamma, which are not present in normal pancreatic A ce lls, may exist in human glucagonoma cells.