Mast Cell Concentrations in Pancreatic Disease Processes.

Mast cells enumeration has been performed using various histologic staining techniques with the goal of elucidating the influence mast cells exert on pathologic processes. In this study, 77 human pancreatic tissues evidencing morphologically normal pancreas, benign fibrotic changes, endocrine tumors, and adenocarcinoma were evaluated using Wright stain and immunohistochemistry markers for tryptase and CD117. Mast cell counts were similar with tryptase and CD117 but were both significantly higher than counts obtained with the Wright stain. Furthermore, all analyses demonstrated that endocrine tumors and morphologically normal pancreatic tissues had significantly lower mast cell counts as compared with benign fibrosis and adenocarcinoma suggesting that the highly fibrotic nature of both pancreatitis and adenocarcinoma are related to increased mast cell concentrations.