Focal positivity of immunohistochemical markers for pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma in primary pulmonary choriocarcinoma: A histopathological study.

Focal positivity of immunohistochemical markers for pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma in primary pulmonary choriocarcinoma: A histopathological study. Oncol Lett. 2018 Dec;16(6):7256-7263 Authors: Matsukuma S, Obara K, Utsumi Y, Miyai K, Takeo H, Oshika Y, Sensaki K Abstract Cytokeratin 5/6 (CK5/6), p63, and p40 are commonly used as immunohistochemical markers for squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) of the lung. To elucidate their positivity in primary pulmonary choriocarcinoma (PPC), the present study examined 4 PPCs, including 1 surgically removed PPC and 3 postmortem PPCs. All PPCs consisted of nested cytotrophoblastic tumor cells and occasional syncytiotrophoblastic tumor cells although 1 surgically removed PPC was markedly affected by pre-operative therapy-associated necrosis and 3 postmortem PPCs coexisted with adenocarcinoma. In 1 surgical case, a pre-operative biopsy specimen of PPC contained a few polygonal tumor cells, which mimicked SqCC and exhibited focal p40+ features. Nuclear p63+ and p40+ features of cytotrophoblast-like polygonal tumor cells were focally observed in 3 PPCs (75%) and 2 PPCs (50%), respectively. CK5/6+ trophoblastic tumor cells were focally identified in 1 PPC. Additionally, in 2 other PPCs, CK5/6+ tumor cells were scattered in choriocarcinomatous areas, but possible intermingling of CK5/6+ adenocarcinoma cells could not be ruled out. The results emphasized that PPCs could mimic SqCC morphologically and imm...
Source: Oncology Letters - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncol Lett Source Type: research