PURPOSE Recent studies have shown activating KIT mutations in melanoma originating from mucosa, acral, or cumulative sun-damaged skin sites. We aimed to assess the predictive role of KIT mutation, amplification, or overexpression for response to treatment with the kinase inhibitor sunitinib. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Tumor tissues from 90 patients with stage III or IV acral, mucosal, or cumulative ...

BACKGROUND Oocyte vitrification is widely used throughout the world, but its clinical efficacy is inconsistent and depends on the vitrification media. This study compared the developmental potential and clinical results of in vivo matured oocytes cryopreserved with different vitrification media. METHODS This retrospective study involved vitrified-warmed oocytes at one in vitro fertilization l...

Purpose: Gain-of-function mutations and KIT overexpression are well-known tumorigenesis mechanisms in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). This study aimed to discover microRNAs that target KIT and reveal the relationship between the discovered microRNAs and KIT expression in GISTs. Experimental Design: Fresh-frozen GISTs from 31 patients were used to confirm the relationship between miR-49...

PURPOSE We recently identified a KIT exon 11 mutation in an anorectal melanoma of a patient who had an excellent response to treatment with imatinib. To determine the frequency of KIT mutations across melanoma subtypes, we surveyed a large series of tumors. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN One hundred eighty-nine melanomas were screened for mutations in KIT exons 11, 13, and 17. KIT copy number was assess...

KIT (CD117, c-kit) is a receptor tyrosine kinase involved in the tumorigenesis of several neoplasms. KIT is expressed by the secretory cells of normal sweat glands. We studied the KIT expression and KIT mutational status in various benign and malignant tumors of eccrine and apocrine glands. We included a total of 108 cases comprising 10 benign and 6 malignant sweat gland tumors, and KIT express...

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) are thought to derive from the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) or an ICC precursor. Oncogenic mutations of the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT are present in most GIST. KIT K642E was originally identified in sporadic GIST and later found in the germ line of a familial GIST cohort. A mouse model harbouring a germline Kit K641E mutant was created to model fa...

The thymus in mice lacking both the receptor tyrosine kinase c-kit and the common cytokine receptor gamma chain (gamma(c)) is alymphoid because these receptors provide essential signals at the earliest stages of thymocyte development. The signals transduced by these receptors potentially regulate proliferation, survival, or differentiation, but the contribution of each receptor to distinct intr...

Resistant KIT mutations have hindered the development of KIT kinase inhibitors for treatment of patients with systemic mastocytosis. The goal of this research was to characterize the synergistic effects of a novel combination therapy involving inhibition of KIT and calcineurin phosphatase, a nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) regulator, using a panel ofKIT-mutantmast cell lines. The eff...

The degree of redundancy between thrombopoietin (Tpo) and steel factor (SF) cytokine pathways in the regulation of hematopoiesis was investigated by generating mice lacking both c-Mpl and fully functional c-Kit receptors. Double mutant c-Mpl;Kit mice exhibited reduced viability, making up only 2% of the offspring from c-Mpl;Kit intercrosses. The thrombocytopenia and megakaryocytopenia character...

Canine cutaneous mast cell tumour (CMCT) is a c-Kit driven tumour sharing similar c-Kit aberrations found in human gastrointestinal stromal tumour. CMCT is classified into three forms: well- (G1), intermediately (G2) (more benign diseases), and poorly (G3) differentiated (malignant) forms. We assess a correlation between c-Kit status, grading, and angiogenesis in CMCTs to explore their potentia...