Prognostic significance of PTEN, Ki-67 and CD44s expression patterns in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Figure 1 Examples of the selected markers expressed in gastrointestinal stromal tumor. A: The tumor cells were strongly positive for CD117 with diffuse membrane staining; B: Nuclear positivity of Ki-67 in the tumor cells; C: Nuclear positivity of PTEN in gastrointestinal stromal tumor; D: CD44s was diffusely positive in tumor cell membrane; E: Matrix metalloproteinase 9 was diffusely positive in cytoplasm; F: TIMP-1 was diffusely positive in cytoplasm. Immunostains counterstained with hematoxylin-eosin, original magnifications × 200.

Figure 2 Kaplan-Meier cumulative survival plots of patients with gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor. The end point was death due to gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). A: High NIH risk assessment correlated significantly with worse outcomes in patients with gastric GIST (P = 0.004); B: PTEN labeling indexes (LIs) ≥ 50% correlated significantly with favorable outcomes in patients with gastric GIST (P = 0.006); C: In patients with gastric GIST, those with Ki-67 LIs < 5% had significantly more favorable outcomes than those with Ki-67 LIs ≥ 5% (P = 0.004); D: CD44s positivity was a significant, favorable indicator for patients with gastric GIST (P = 0.006); E: For patients with small intestinal GIST, the immunophenotype of PTEN LIs ≥ 50% and Ki-67 LIs < 5% was a favorable indicator (P = 0.009); F: Gastric GIST patients with immunophenotype of PTEN LIs ≥ 50%, Ki-67 LIs < 5% and CD44s positivity had significantly more favorable outcomes than those with other immunophenotypes (P = 0.011).