While the colonic LCNET are rare tumors, they share histological features with the more well described large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas of the lung. The histological AZD8931 classification of LCNETs of the lung was initially proposed by Travis et al (6) and subsequently adopted by the World Health Organization. These tumors are characterized

by (i) neuroendocrine appearance under light microscopy (including an organoid, nesting, trabecular, rosette, and palisading pattern) (7), (ii) large cells with Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a polygonal shape, ample cytoplasm, coarse chromatin and frequent nucleoli, (iii) very high mitotic rate (greater than 10/10 high-power fields) along with frequent necrosis, and evidence of neuroendocrine features by immunohistochemistry or electron microscopy (4),(6). The tumor in this case met the morphological criteria proposed by Travis et al (6), and had neuroendocrine immunohistochemical features including diffuse cytoplasmic staining for synaptophysin. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Unlike adenocarcinomas, most poorly differentiated LCNETs, like the one in this case, are negative for CK-20 (a tumor marker traditionally confined to the intestinal epithelial, urothelial, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and Merkel cells) (8).

Nonetheless, several case reports of CK-20 positive LCNEC have been reported in the literature, suggesting a potentially common precursor for these tumors and the conventional colonic adenocarcinomas (2),(3),(9). Ki-67 antige is a surrogate marker for cell proliferation and is detected in the nucleus of actively cycling cells. Since Ki-67 is strictly related to cell replication and not to DNA repair, it can serve as an excellent marker for tumor growth (10). In the case presented, 90% of the tumor cell nuclei stained positive for Ki-67, demonstrating its highly

aggressive nature with rapid metastases Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to the liver. While tumor aggressiveness of the tumor has been associated to the extent of Ki-67 expression in some studies Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (11),(12), others have argued that the prognostic value of Ki-67 is dependent on the tissue type and that it may not be generalized to all tumors (13). Similarly, prognostic value of Ki-67 in LCNECs is unclear at this time. Similar to the adenocarcinomas of the colon, liver is the most common site of metastasis for the and NETs of the colon (14). Given the aggressive nature of colonic NET, patients most often present with metastatic disease at time of initial diagnosis (4). The aggressive nature of colonic large cell neuroendocrine tumors is evident in this case by the rapid progression of the tumor and near replacement of the liver by tumor in a period spanning approximately 10 days from the time of initial presentation to the time of second operative exploration. In conclusion, colonic large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas are rare and aggressive tumors. Most are located in the cecum or the rectum, are metastatic at presentation, and have a poor prognosis with median overall survival reported to be 10.4 months ( range of 0 to 263.