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Updated: Aug 9, 2026
Analysis of the c-KIT Ligand Promoter Using Chromatin Immunoprecipitation
Published on: June 27, 2017
The prevalence and clinical implications of c-kit expression in plasma cell myeloma
G Pruneri1, M Ponzoni, A J M Ferreri
1Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, European Institute of Oncology and University of Milan, School of Medicine, Italy. giancarlo.pruneri@ieo.it
Aim:
To evaluate the clinical implications of c-kit (CD117) expression in plasma cell myeloma (PCM).
Methods And Results:
We first evaluated the reliability of immunohistochemistry in assessing c-kit expression by comparing the results with those obtained by flow cytometry and gene expression arrays in 22 PCM and in 10 PCM cell lines. Immunohistochemical results showed a perfect concordance with those of flow cytometry; likewise, immunohistochemical and gene expression data were also concordant in all but one PCM and cell lines analysed. Then, we investigated the clinical implications of c-kit immunoreactivity in bone marrow biopsies of 85 PCM patients with a mean follow-up of 41 months. C-kit immunoreactivity was detected in 24 (28.2%) of the 85 cases and it was significantly associated with a high microvessel density, but not with traditional clinicopathological characteristics or with survival.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that immunohistochemistry is a reliable indicator of c-kit gene expression and reinforce the notion that approximately one-third of PCM express high levels of c-kit. The lack of association with traditional clinicopathological parameters and patient survival suggests that c-kit expression may not be an adjunct in predicting the clinical course of the disease.
