INSM1, a Novel Biomarker for Detection of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: Cytopathologists' View

Zahra Maleki; Akash Nadella; Mohnish Nadella; Gopi Patel; Shivni Patel; Ivana Kholová

doi:10.3390/diagnostics11122172

INSM1, a Novel Biomarker for Detection of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: Cytopathologists' View

Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Nov 23;11(12):2172. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11122172.

Authors

Zahra Maleki¹, Akash Nadella², Mohnish Nadella², Gopi Patel², Shivni Patel², Ivana Kholová³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cytopathology, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
² Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
³ Department of Pathology, Fimlab Laboratories, Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33100 Tampere, Finland.

Abstract

Insulinoma-associated protein 1 (INSM1) has been considered as a novel immunostain for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and is hypothesized to be more reliable than first-generation NET biomarkers, such as CGA (chromogranin A), SYP (synaptophysin) and CD56 (neural cell adhesion molecule). In this review, we summarize existing literature on INSM1's reliability as an immunostain for detection of various NETs, its results in comparison to first-generation NET biomarkers, and its expression in both non-NETs and benign tissues/cells on cytology specimens (cell blocks/smears).

Keywords: INSM-1 immunostaining; carcinoid; cytology; medullary thyroid carcinoma; neuroendocrine tumor; pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor; pulmonary neuroendocrine neoplasms.

Publication types

Review