Pathology quiz case 1. Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) of the tongue.
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An alveolar soft part sarcoma localised in the pituitary gland extended into the suprasellar region. Three years after surgical removal there was a recurrency in the occipital horn of the right cerebral ventricle. This type of tumour predominantly occurs in the limbs and has never been reported in the pituitary region.
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The molecular pathogenesis of alveolar soft part sarcoma, a rare tumor with uncertain histogenesis, was elucidated recently and was shown to be due to a translocation between chromosome 17q25 and Xp11 resulting in a fusion product between TFE3 (a transcription factor gene) at chromosome Xp11 and a novel gene designated as ASPL at chromosome 17q25. This results in the transcriptional dysregulation in the pathogenesis of this neoplasm. Of the 12 cases reported so far, the translocation was due to non-reciprocal translocation in 11 cases with only one case demonstrating a reciprocal translocation with respective fusion products. We report yet another case with reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 17q25 and Xp11 with TFE3/ASPL fusion product who presented with metastatic disease. A standard cytogenetic analysis of primary tumor cells with G-banding revealed an abnormal karyotype: 46, X, t(X;17)(p11;q25)[15]/46,XX[5]. PCR analysis of the frozen tumor tissue revealed a type 1 fusion product as described in the literature. We demonstrate a rare cytogenetic abnormality in ASPS, namely reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 17q25 and Xp11 with demonstration of molecular fusion product between TFE3 and ASPL in a patient who initially presented with pulmonary metastases.
Alveolar soft-part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare tumor of uncertain histogenesis, mainly localized in the extremities and less frequently found in the head, neck and trunk. The present report describes two cases of ASPS localized in the uterus. In general, this entity is very rarely encountered in the female genital tract. Including the two cases presented here, 27 patients have been described in the literature. Whereas the prognosis for ASPS in soft tissues is usually poor (most of the patients died of lung metastases), those localized in the female genital tract are associated with a much better survival. This could be explained by the fact that their diameter seldom exceeds 5 cm, the size which is regarded as being the critical prognostic limit. Histologically, both tumors showed the same characteristics as known for ASPS in other localizations: organoid or nest-like arrangement of tumor cells; rounded or polygonal cells with cytoplasm of varying density; thin-walled, sinusoidal vascular spaces between tumor cell nests. Immunohistochemically, we found positivity for desmin and, to a lesser extent, for vimentin. Cytokeratin was negative, which is important in differential diagnosis to other rare uterine neoplasias like clear cell (mesonephroid) adenocarcinomas or metastases.
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The twelfth case (in 25 years of literature) of alveolar soft part sarcoma of the head and neck is presented. It represents the seventh case to occur in the base of tongue and the second to be associated with pregnancy. The average age of onset is in the second decade with a 2:1 female preponderance and a marked tendency to right-sided occurrence. Treatment with surgery and/or radiotherapy is not curative. Local recurrence is common as are distant metastases, usually to lung, brain or bone. Theoretically, chemotherapy may offer better control of disease but few agents have shown dramatic response. The characteristics of the tumors are discussed and various chemotherapeutic agents are reviewed.
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The unbalanced translocation, der(17)t(X;17)(p11.2;q25), is characteristic of alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS). We have recently shown that this translocation fuses the TFE3 transcription factor gene at Xp11.2 to ASPL, a novel gene at 17q25. We describe herein eight morphologically distinctive renal tumors occurring in young people that bear the identical ASPL-TFE3 fusion transcript as ASPS, with the distinction that the t(X;17) translocation is cytogenetically balanced in these renal tumors. A relationship between these renal tumors and ASPS was initially suggested by the cytogenetic finding of a balanced t(X;17)(p11.2;q25) in two of the cases, and the ASPL-TFE3 fusion transcripts were then confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The morphology of these eight ASPL-TFE3 fusion-positive renal tumors, although overlapping in some aspects that of classic ASPS, more closely resembles renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which was the a priori diagnosis in all cases. These tumors demonstrate nested and pseudopapillary patterns of growth, psammomatous calcifications, and epithelioid cells with abundant clear cytoplasm and well-defined cell borders. By immunohistochemistry, four tumors were negative for all epithelial markers tested, whereas four were focally positive for cytokeratin and two were reactive for epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) (one diffusely, one focally). Electron microscopy of six tumors demonstrated a combination of ASPS-like features (dense granules in four cases, rhomboid crystals in two cases) and epithelial features (cell junctions in six cases, microvilli and true glandular lumens in three cases). Overall, although seven of eight tumors demonstrated at least focal epithelial features by electron microscopy or immunohistochemistry, the degree and extent of epithelial differentiation was notably less than expected for typical RCC. We confirmed the balanced nature of the t(X;17) translocation by fluorescence in situ hybridization in all seven renal tumors thus analyzed, which contrasts sharply with the unbalanced nature of the translocation in ASPS. In summary, a subset of tumors previously considered to be RCC in young people are in fact genetically related to ASPS, although their distinctive morphological and genetic features justify their classification as a distinctive neoplastic entity. Finally, the finding of distinctive tumors being associated with balanced and unbalanced forms of the same translocation is to our knowledge, unprecedented.
BACKGROUND: Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma. Brain metastases have been reported to be a common feature of Stage IV ASPS, and recent practice guidelines recommend routine intracranial imaging as part of the staging evaluation in all patients who present with ASPS. METHODS: The authors performed a comprehensive retrospective review of the clinical presentation, treatment, outcome, and patterns of failure in a consecutive series of patients with localized (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] Stages II/III) or metastatic (AJCC Stage IV) ASPS who presented to a tertiary care cancer center between 1959 and 1998. RESULTS: Seventy-four patients were identified from the database searches. The anatomic distribution of their primary tumors included: extremities, 44 patients (60%); trunk, 15 patients (20%); head and neck, 9 patients (12%); and retroperitoneum, 6 patients (8%). The median tumor size was 6.5 cm (range, 1.2-24 cm). The AJCC stage at presentation was Stage II or III in 35% of the patients and Stage IV in 65% of the patients. The 5-year actuarial local recurrence free, distant recurrence free, disease free, and overall survival rates among the 22 patients with localized ASPS were 88%, 84%, 71%%, and 87%, respectively. At a median follow-up of 9 years, 2 of 22 patients with localized disease had developed local recurrences and 3 had developed metastatic disease (all to the lung only). Brain metastases were noted in 9 of 48 patients who presented with Stage IV (M1) disease (19%) and always were noted in association with metastasis to other sites. The median survival of patients with M1 disease was 40 months, with a 5-year survival rate of 20%. CONCLUSIONS: Long term follow-up of patients with localized ASPS reveals a relatively indolent clinical course with relatively low rates of local and distant recurrence. In patients with Stage IV ASPS, brain metastases were observed only as part of more disseminated disease. The observations of the current study do not support current practice guidelines for the staging of patients with ASPS and suggest that selective rather than routine intracranial imaging should be used in patients presenting with ASPS.
This paper presents the case history of a 22-year-old woman with an alveolar soft part sarcoma of the scapular region. Treatment consisted of resection. Cytostatic medication with adriamycin and dacarbazine (DTIC) failed to prevent rapid general metastatic growth.
We have presented a case of typical alveolar soft part sarcoma probably originating from the soft tissues of the retroperitoneum with metastasis to the brain. An ultrastructural study including histochemical observation of the metastatic lesion was performed to clarify the nature of the crystals characteristic to the tumor cells of this disease. The crystalline structures have acid phosphatase activity at a histological and ultrastructural level. Our results suggested that they might be derived from coalescence of primary lysosomes or by digestive disintegration of some protein.
BACKGROUND: A 32 year-old male patient had a 6-week history of left-sided proptosis. Computer tomography revealed a 16x15x15 mm smooth and well-defined mass between the optic nerve and the medial and superior rectus muscles in the left orbit. METHODS: The tumour was excised via a cranio-medial orbitotomy approach. RESULTS: Histopathological examination, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy findings were consistent with an alveolar soft part sarcoma. Immunohistochemical staining showed positive immunoreactivity for neuronespecific enolase, vimentin, p53 (30%), p21 (10%) and cyclin D1 (20%), and negative immunoreactivity for CD45, cytokeratins, S-100 protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein, synaptophysin, chromogranin, calcitonin, serotonin, thyreoglobulin, desmin, myosin, actin, HMB-45, pRB, p16 and BCL-2. The growth fraction of the tumour cells was 3%. At examination 4 years after surgical excision, there was no evidence of local recurrence or for metastases. CONCLUSION: Alveolar soft part sarcoma of the orbit is a rare malignant tumour best controlled by surgery. The unpredictable behaviour of these neoplasms, however, indicates the need for long-term follow-up.
Sarcoma metastatic to the brain is uncommon and rarely occurs as the initial manifestation of tumor. Alveolar soft-part sarcoma, a rare but well studied subtype of a soft tissue sarcoma with a propensity for central nervous system invasion, presenting with brain metastases, has been reported only once previously. We report the case of a 28-year-old man who presented with partial seizures and who was found to have a homogeneously enhancing frontal lesion on a broad dural base disclosed by computed tomography. preoperatively, the lesion was thought to be a meningioma. The tumor was excised easily and had features typical of an alveolar soft-part sarcoma, which were revealed by light and electron microscopy as well as immunohistochemical analysis. Multiple lung nodules compatible with metastases were found on a chest film. Meningeal dissemination has been reported in a variety of sarcoma types, including rhabdomyosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, and leiomyosarcoma. We add alveolar soft-part sarcoma to this list and suggest that increased recognition of the propensity for these tumors to exhibit metastatic spread to the dura should eliminate diagnostic confusion and provide an earlier diagnosis of these rare lesions. The patterns of spread in metastatic sarcoma deserve further study.