Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma stone: is it a tumor?

Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is a benign epithelial tumor of the sellar and suprasellar region, and in children, it usually presents with cysts and calcifications.

In this study, ACP samples were collected, and after enzymatic digestion of the calcified component of these tumors, which were placed in culture to isolate possible cellular components, in vitro and in vivo viability analysis and characterization were performed.

ACP-calcified component cells cultured in vitro were established showing the doubling time in 2 days, confirmed by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Other analyses were carried out, such as ultrastructural characterization and the growth of ACP-calcified component cells in xenograft animal model by MRI monitoring. Immunocytochemistry detected cytokeratin-7 expression in the cytomembrane and cytoplasm of ACP-calcified component cells, confirming that the tumor mass established in the xenograft animal model comes from calcified component of ACP patients' cell cultures which were squamous epithelial cells.

Thus, our results suggest that the calcifications present in ACPs have the capacity to generate a tumor, and we could only consider complete tumor excision when all calcifications have been removed. Therefore, these ACP-calcified component cell cultures may be important to study possible targets for drug therapies and help understand the progression mechanisms of this tumor and better control its spread.