O(6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase and glucose transporter 2 in foregut and hindgut gastrointestinal neuroendocrine neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Streptozocin (STZ) is used for treating both pancreatic (PanNET) and gastrointestinal (GI-NET) neuroendocrine tumors but its therapeutic efficacy is relatively low in GI-NETs. Therefore, it has become pivotal to select GI-NET patients who could benefit from STZ treatment. STZ is transported via the glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) into the cells and the loss of O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) also increases its therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, GLUT2 high and MGMT low status could be the surrogate markers of STZ. METHODS: In this study, we examined the MGMT and GLUT2 status in gastrointestinal neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN). We studied 84 NEN cases: 33 foregut and 37 hindgut GI-NETs and 14 gastrointestinal neuroendocrine carcinomas (GI-NECs). RESULTS: In GI-NETs, MGMT scores of ≥2 and ≥ 3 were 77% (54/70) and 56% (39/70), respectively, and GLUT2 scores of ≥4 and ≥ 6 were 30% (21/70) and 4.3% (3/70), respectively. Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction revealed that MGMT promoter methylation was detected only in 2/14 GI-NECs but none of the included GI-NETs. GLUT2 (GLUT2 score) and MGMT immunoreactivity (MGMT and H-scores) were both significantly correlated with Ki-67 labeling index (GLUT2 score: P = 0.0045, ρ = − 0.4570; MGMT score: P = 0.0064, ρ = − 0.4399; H-score: P = 0.0110, ρ = − 0.4135) and MGMT immunoreactivity were significantly correlated with GLUT2 immunoreactivity (MGMT score: P = 0.0198; H-score, P = 0.0004, ρ = 0.5483) in hindgut NETs, but not in foregut NETs. However, discrepancies from the above correlation between GLUT2 and MGMT immunoreactivity were detected in several GI-NET cases which could be potential candidates for STZ therapy. CONCLUSION: The evaluation of MGMT and GLUT2 status could provide an important information in planning STZ therapy in GI-NET patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-020-07579-6.