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Usefulness of immunohistochemistry to distinguish between secretory carcinoma and acinic cell carcinoma in the salivary gland

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Abstract

Secretory carcinoma (SC) of the salivary gland is a relatively newly described disease, separate from acinic cell carcinoma (ACC), which frequently displays ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion. However, the differences between SC and ACC remain unclear. Here, histological reevaluation of 12 formerly diagnosed ACC cases was performed, which yielded a new diagnosis of SC in four cases due to a lack of obvious acinar-like cells. Immunohistochemically, phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (p-STAT5) was expressed in SC but not in ACC, whereas discovered on GIST-1 (DOG1) was expressed in ACC but not in SC. Molecular analysis was possible in three SC cases, of which two showed the ETV6-NTRK3 fusion transcript on reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, as well as breaks in the ETV6 gene on fluorescence in situ hybridization. However, the remaining SC cases did not show this fusion transcript. Recently, several reports have suggested that SC might not be adequately diagnosed if the focus is placed solely on the ETV6-NTRK3 fusion gene due to genetic diversity. In this regard, immunohistochemistry of p-STAT5 and DOG1 is expected to be a useful alternative diagnostic tool to discriminate SC from ACC.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all clinical laboratory technicians in the Department of Diagnostic Pathology and Cytology, Osaka International Cancer Institute, and all laboratory members in the Department of Pathology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine for their kind technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yuichiro Hamamoto, Masaharu Kohara & Eiichi Morii

  2. Department of Diagnostic Pathology and Cytology, Osaka International Cancer Institute, 3-1-69 Otemae, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 541-8567, Japan

    Yuichiro Hamamoto, Hiroshi Harada & Keiichiro Honma

  3. Department of Pathology, Sakai City Medical Center, 1-1-1 Ebaraji-cho, Nishi-ku, Sakai, 593-8304, Japan

    Shin-ichi Nakatsuka

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  1. Yuichiro Hamamoto
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Correspondence to Eiichi Morii.

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Hamamoto, Y., Harada, H., Kohara, M. et al. Usefulness of immunohistochemistry to distinguish between secretory carcinoma and acinic cell carcinoma in the salivary gland. Med Mol Morphol 54, 23–30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-020-00256-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-020-00256-4

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