3386 - Myoepithelial Tumors of Soft Tissues and Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcomas feature a distinct transcriptional pattern

Background

Myoepithelial tumors of soft tissues (MT) and Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma (EMC) are closely related pathological entities whose overlapping features, in terms of morphology and immunoprofile, make differential diagnosis challenging. Different fusion genes have been described in MT. Instead, the rearrangement of NR4A3 is conventionally considered an exquisite feature of EMC. Nevertheless, whether there is a biological overlap between MT and EMC is still controversial. In order to shed light on this issue we compared the transcriptional profiles of the two entities.

Methods

A series of EMC (12 cases) and MT (7 cases), retrieved from the pathology files, was selected for the study. The diagnosis was made according to the WHO classification. FISH analyses confirmed that all EMC harbored NR4A3 rearrangement (7 EWSR1-NR4A3 and 5 TAF15-NR4A3); 4 EWSR1 and 1 FUS rearrangement were detected in MT. No rearrangement was detected in 2 cases. RNA was extracted from FFPE specimens with tumor cellularity >70%. RNA-sequencing was carried out on an Illumina Hiseq1000 platform (average 70 million reads/sample). Diverse algorithms and bioinformatic suites were employed to identify fusion transcripts and functional annotation analysis.

Results

RNA-seq analysis confirmed the rearrangements detected by FISH and identified one PTCH1-GLI1 fusion in a MT. Principal component analysis and unsupervised hierarchical clustering indicated that MT and EMC feature a distinct transcriptional profile. Functional annotation of the genes differentially expressed highlighted Hedgehog (HH) and WNT signaling as significantly enriched pathways in MT compared to EMC, with canonical GLI1 and WNT target genes upregulated in MT. Ectopic expression in cell models of the PTCH1-GLI1 chimeric transcript identified in the MT sample correlated with the induction of GLI1 target genes.

Conclusions

This study corroborates the notion that MT and EMC represent two distinct biological entities, with MT featuring a distinctive activation of HH and WNT pathways. The PTCH1-GLI1 fusion represents one possible mechanism of HH pathway activation in MT.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Fondazione AIRC per la Ricerca sul Cancro, CRO Intramural Grant, Italian Ministry of Health.

Disclosure

P.G. Casali: Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (institution): Bayer; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (institution): Deciphera; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (institution): Eisai; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (institution): Eli Lilly; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Nektar Therapeutics; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (institution): Pfizer; Research grant / Funding (institution): Advenchen Laboratories; Research grant / Funding (institution): Amgen Dompé; Research grant / Funding (institution): AROG Pharmaceuticals; Research grant / Funding (institution): Blueprint Medicines; Research grant / Funding (institution): Daiichi Sankyo; Research grant / Funding (institution): Epizyme Inc.; Research grant / Funding (institution): Glaxo; Research grant / Funding (institution): Karyopharm Pharmaceuticals; Research grant / Funding (institution): Novartis; Research grant / Funding (institution): PharmaMar. A.P. Dei Tos: Advisory / Consultancy: Roche; Advisory / Consultancy: Bayer. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.