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Frequent appearance of club cell (Clara cell)‐like cells as a histological marker for ALK ‐positive lung adenocarcinoma
Author(s) -
MiyataMorita Kana,
Morita Shigeki,
Matsutani Noriyuki,
Kondo Fukuo,
Soejima Yurie,
Sawabe Motoji
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
pathology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1827
pISSN - 1320-5463
DOI - 10.1111/pin.12864
Subject(s) - anaplastic lymphoma kinase , pathology , signet ring cell , adenocarcinoma , papillary adenocarcinoma , large cell , epidermal growth factor receptor , lung , medicine , lung cancer , biology , cancer , malignant pleural effusion
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase‐rearranged ( ALK + ) lung cancers show characteristic histological features, such as solid signet ring cell patterns and mucinous cribriform patterns; however, these features are not always observed in ALK + lung cancers. We noticed that club cell (Clara cell)‐like cells (CLCs) were frequently present in the papillary portion of ALK + lung adenocarcinomas. In this study, we investigated the importance of CLCs in papillary patterns of ALK + lung cancers. We compared the histological features of 18 ALK + cases with 62 control cases (22 epidermal growth factor receptor‐positive ( EGFR + ) and 40 ALK ‐ and EGFR ‐negative ( ALK − / EGFR − ) cases). The present study analyzed presence of papillary pattern, proportion of papillary pattern area, presence of micropapillary pattern, frequency of CLCs and lengths of snout. The frequency of CLCs in ALK + cases was significantly higher than that in EGFR + cases and ALK − / EGFR − cases. Micropapillary pattern was more frequently observed in ALK + cases than that in ALK − / EGFR − cases ( P < 0.001). The present study indicated that the high frequency of CLCs in papillary patterns was significantly associated with ALK + cases. When solid signet ring cell patterns and mucinous cribriform patterns are absent, the high frequency of CLCs in papillary adenocarcinoma could be a useful histological marker for ALK + lung cancers.