Immunohistochemistry study of pulmonary small cell carcinoma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Immunohistochemistry study of pulmonary small cell carcinoma
IRAS ID
249079
Contact name
Daisuke Nonaka
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 27 days
Research summary
High grade neuroendocrine carcinoma of lung is a group of aggressive lung cancer and constitutes two major entities, small cell carcinoma (SCLC) and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC). Incidence of SCLC and LCNEC is 13 and 3% of lung cancer cases, respectively. 5-year survival rate is 5 and 15-40%, respectively. Although they are both aggressive, they are genetically different and treated differently. Currently, diagnostic gold standard is conventional morphology (histology) assessment with immunohistochemistry study. However, both entities share many histopathological features, and precise diagnosis is often challenging. Particularly, the diagnosis of LCNEC is very difficult or almost impossible on small specimens such as biopsy or cytology sample. Recently, a group of international experts has issued a recommendation for histopathology diagnosis of SCLC (J Thorac Oncol. 2017 Feb;12(2):334-346), and as a part of immunohistochemistry study, they document that RB1 is useful to distinguish between SCLC and LCNEC. RB1 has been used for small cell carcinoma research for some time, however, it has not been validated as a marker for routine diagnostic work-up. In our proposed study, we will examine the utility of RB1 immunohistochemistry in a large number of cases.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/YH/0303
Date of REC Opinion
1 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion