IRON-BINDING PROTEINS IN GALLBLADDER CARCINOMAS - AN IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION

By immunohistochemistry, the presence of major iron-binding proteins ( lactoferrin, transferrin, ferritin) has been investigated in adenocarc inomas (27 cases), adenosquamous carcinoma (1 case), undifferentiated sarcomatoid carcinoma (1 case) and mucinous adenocarcinomas (3 cases) of the gallbladder; 10 samples of chronic lithyasic cholecystitis, 4 a denomyomas and 6 tubulo-villous adenomas have also been studied. In a variable share of adenocarcinomas, a positive immunoreactivity for iro n-binding antisera was encountered in the cytoplasm, while tubulo-vill ous adenomas, adenomyomas and the normal epithelium of the gallbladder were generally unreactive. In carcinomatous lesions, the staining int ensity was variable between different cases or individual tumour cells . The production of these iron-binding proteins in the gallbladder car cinoma in itself could be related to a greater availability of iron fo r metabolic processes in the neoplastic cell; alternatively, the cytop lasmic localization of these substances in carcinomatous elements may be a consequence of a defective or impaired function of iron-binding r eceptors with a modified degree of transmembranous iron transfer.