Human papillomavirus-associated penile sarcomatoid carcinoma

Abstract

Sarcomatoid carcinomas are rare tumors predominantly composed of spindle cells. This report describes two cases of penile sarcomatoid carcinoma with similar clinicopathological findings. Distinctive features of these tumors were the focal immunostaining that showed the sarcoma-like cells with keratin, smooth muscle actin and p16, and the absence of immunostaining of these cells with p53, S100 protein and desmin. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the GP5+/GP6+ set of primers was positive in both cases. The sequences of the amplified products showed that the implicated genotypes were Human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 and HPV18. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no report in the English literature of HPV-associated penile sarcomatoid carcinoma. These cases might represent an unusual presentation of dedifferentiated carcinoma in which HPV could be shown by a sensitive technique of PCR.