Background: Although previous studies indicate that gastrointestinal (GI) cancer may originate from cells recruited from bone marrow (BM) in mice, whether similar phenomena occur in humans is controversial. In the current study, we evaluated two female patients who developed colonic adenocarcinoma more than 10 years after gender-mismatched BM transplantation, and followingly underwent successful endoscopic mucosal resection.
Materials and methods: Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was used to determine whether the tumours contained donor-derived BM cells.
Results: Approximately 1.2% of the tumour cells contained Y-chromosome-positive signals, and a comparable percentage of normal colonic epithelial cells close to the tumour also contained Y-chromosome-positive signals.
Conclusion: These results do not support the concept that GI cancer can originate from BM-derived cells.