Histological and molecular analysis of cellular leiomyoma with sclerosis: linked to HMGA2 overexpression

Brannan B. Griffin, Yue Feng, Priyanka Saini, Xinyan Lu, Serdar Bulun, Debabrata Chakravarti, Jian Jun Wei*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

HMGA2 overexpression is found in 10–15% of leiomyomas (LM). HMGA2 overexpression is common in variants of hydropic, intravenous and lipo-LM. Cellular or highly cellular LM (CLM) is a LM variant with a less well-defined molecular nature. In this study, we identified and examined 52 hypercellular LM with sclerotic collagen, herein defined as cellular leiomyoma with sclerosis (CLM-S). CLM-S shows large tumour size (average 12.2 cm) and characteristic histology of tumour cells, arranged in cellular fascicles, sheets and trabeculae with abundant dense, pink sclerotic extracellular matrix in bands and nodules and increased vascularity. Tumour cells are uniform with small, round–oval nuclei and scant, pale–eosinophilic to vacuolated cytoplasm reminiscent of pericytes. The differential diagnosis of CLM-S includes conventional CLM, endometrial stromal tumours and perivascular epithelioid cell tumour. Immunohistochemical profile [HMGA2, fumarate hydratase, smooth muscle markers, Melan A and HMB-45] and molecular alterations [by HMGA2 mRNA reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR), HMGA2 fluorescence in-situ hybridisation and MED12 sequencing] were analysed in comparison to matched myometrium and CLM controls. Remarkably, 96% (50 of 52) of CLM-S demonstrated diffuse positive immunoreactivity for HMGA2 and up to an 80-fold increase in HMGA2 mRNA, determined by RT–PCR. FISH analysis with break-part probes at intron 3 and the 5' UTR detected HMGA2 rearrangements in 47% (18 of 38) of CLM-S. All CLM-S retained expression of fumarate hydratase. No MED12 mutations were found in any CLM-S. Our findings show that CLM-S has unique and characteristic histomorphology probably driven by HMGA2 overexpression.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)587-599
Number of pages13
JournalHistopathology
Volume81
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2022

Funding

We would like to thank Northwestern University pathology core facility and sequencing core for technical support. This study was partially supported by NIH P50 HD098580. Part of this study was presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology on 17 March 2021, virtual broadcasting from Palm Springs, CA, USA.

Keywords

  • HMGA2
  • cellular and sclerosing
  • histology
  • leiomyoma
  • molecular analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
  • Histology

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