Absent/reduced glucose transporter-1 protein expression in infantile subglottic haemangiomas.

Background: Positive immunohistochemical staining for glucose transporter-1 protein (GLUT1) is a characteristic of cutaneous infantile haemangiomas.

Objective: To examine GLUT1 expression in subglottic haemangiomas.

Methods: Review of clinical notes and biopsy tissue with immunostaining for GLUT1 in 14 patients with subglottic haemangiomas.

Results: GLUT1 immunostaining was negative in 11 cases, and focally positive in three. No subglottic haemangiomas demonstrated the intense diffuse positive GLUT1 staining seen in cutaneous infantile haemangiomas. Five patients had cutaneous as well as subglottic haemangiomas, one of whom had a GLUT1-negative subglottic haemangioma and a GLUT1-positive cutaneous haemangioma of the lip.

Conclusions: Subglottic haemangiomas appear immunohistochemically different from cutaneous infantile haemangiomas, which may reflect differences in endothelial cell differentiation or underlying aetiology.