Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Oct;67(4):529-37.
doi: 10.1111/his.12673. Epub 2015 Mar 23.

Are acinic cell carcinomas of the breast and salivary glands distinct diseases?

Salvatore Piscuoglio  1 , Zsolt Hodi  2 , Nora Katabi  1 , Elena Guerini-Rocco  1   3 , Gabriel S Macedo  1 , Charlotte K Y Ng  1 , Marcia Edelweiss  1 , Leticia De Mattos-Arruda  1   4 , Hannah Y Wen  1 , Emad A Rakha  2 , Ian O Ellis  2 , Brian P Rubin  5 , Britta Weigelt  1 , Jorge S Reis-Filho  1
Affiliations

Are acinic cell carcinomas of the breast and salivary glands distinct diseases?

Salvatore Piscuoglio et al. Histopathology. 2015 Oct.

Abstract

Aims: Acinic cell carcinomas (AcCC) of the breast have been reported to constitute the breast counterpart of salivary gland AcCCs, based on the similarities of their histological and immunohistochemical features. Breast AcCC is a vanishingly rare form of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Recent studies have demonstrated that in TNBCs, the two driver genes most frequently mutated are TP53 (82%) and PIK3CA (10%). We sought to define whether breast AcCCs would harbour TP53 and PIK3CA somatic mutations, and if so, whether these would be present in salivary gland AcCCs.

Methods and results: Sanger sequencing of the entire coding region of TP53 and of PIK3CA hotspot mutation sites of 10 breast and 20 salivary gland microdissected AcCCs revealed eight TP53 (80%) and one PIK3CA (10%) somatic mutations in breast AcCCs. No somatic mutations affecting these genes were found in the 20 salivary gland AcCCs analysed.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that breast AcCCs display TP53 and PIK3CA mutations at frequencies similar to those of common types of TNBCs, whereas these genes appear not to be altered in salivary gland AcCCs, suggesting that despite their similar histological appearances, AcCCs of the breast and salivary glands probably constitute unrelated diseases.

Keywords: PIK3CA; TP53; breast; salivary gland; sequencing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Acinic cell carcinomas of the breast and salivary glands. Representative micrographs of breast acinic cell carcinomas (A, case 9; B, case 17) and salivary gland acinic cell carcinomas (C, case 2; D, case 3). Note the tinctorial differences of the intracytoplasmic granules in breast (A, inset, and B) and salivary gland acinic cell carcinomas (C, D).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Breast acinic cell carcinomas harbour TP53 and/or PIK3CA somatic mutations. Sanger sequencing traces and protein domains of PIK3CA and TP53 (A, case 16; B, case 17). Schematic plots were adapted from www.cbioportal.org and protein domains were annotated according to UniProt (http://www.uniprot.org). The somatic mutations in TP53 and PIK3CA are highlighted by arrows.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pia-Foschini M, Reis-Filho JS, Eusebi V, Lakhani SR. Salivary gland-like tumours of the breast: surgical and molecular pathology. J. Clin. Pathol. 2003;56:497–506. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Foschini MP, Krausz T. Salivary gland-type tumors of the breast: a spectrum of benign and malignant tumors including ‘triple negative carcinomas’ of low malignant potential. Semin. Diagn. Pathol. 2010;27:77–90. - PubMed
    1. Persson M, Andren Y, Mark J, Horlings HM, Persson F, Stenman G. Recurrent fusion of MYB and NFIB transcription factor genes in carcinomas of the breast and head and neck. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2009;106:18740–18744. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wetterskog D, Lopez-Garcia MA, Lambros MB, et al. Adenoid cystic carcinomas constitute a genomically distinct subgroup of triple-negative and basal-like breast cancers. J. Pathol. 2012;226:84–96. - PubMed
    1. Tognon C, Knezevich SR, Huntsman D, et al. Expression of the ETV6–NTRK3 gene fusion as a primary event in human secretory breast carcinoma. Cancer Cell. 2002;2:367–376. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances