Vulvar Yolk Sac Tumors Are Somatically Derived SMARCB1 (INI-1)-Deficient Neoplasms.

So-called primary yolk sac tumors of the vulva are very rare and often have an aggressive disease course. Their molecular features have not been previously characterized. There is also a well-documented group of SMARCB1 (INI-1)-deficient vulvar neoplasms, which includes proximal-type epithelioid sarcoma and myoepithelial carcinoma. Until now, "vulvar yolk sac tumors" and SMARCB1-deficient neoplasms were considered unrelated diseases. After reviewing an index case of a vulvar yolk sac tumor with loss of SMARCB1 by immunohistochemistry, we retrospectively identified 2 additional cases diagnosed as vulvar yolk sac tumors. Patient ages were 34, 32, and 25 years old, and 2 tumors were associated with a pregnancy. All 3 cases showed morphology typical of a yolk sac tumor, and by immunohistochemistry all were positive for SALL4, glypican-3, keratins, and lacked CD34 positivity. All tumors also demonstrated loss of SMARCB1 in tumor cells. Targeted molecular profiling was performed in 2 cases and identified 2 copy deletion of SMARCB1, without genomic alterations typically seen in gonadal yolk sac tumors. In the third case, isochromosome 12p was not identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization. All 3 patients had either local recurrences or distant metastases, and 2 died of disease. One patient had progressive disease while receiving the enhancer of zeste homolog 2 inhibitor tazemetostat. Overall, these findings suggest that vulvar tumors with pure yolk sac-like morphology may represent morphologic variants of SMARCB1-deficient tumors and not veritable germ cell neoplasia. This potential reclassification may have both prognostic and treatment implications and warrants study of additional extragonadal yolk sac tumors. Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

David L Kolin, Panagiotis A Konstantinopoulos, Susana M Campos, Gisele Toumi, Kevin A Kolahi, Eric J Gars, Brooke E Howitt. Vulvar Yolk Sac Tumors Are Somatically Derived SMARCB1 (INI-1)-Deficient Neoplasms. The American journal of surgical pathology. 2022 Feb 01;46(2):169-178

Mesh Tags

Substances

PMID: 34265804

search → result