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. 2023 May;21(5):482-491.
doi: 10.1111/ddg.15006. Epub 2023 Apr 10.

Atypical fibroxanthoma and pleomorphic dermal sarcoma - gene expression analysis compared with undifferentiated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Iris Marie Anders  1 , Carolin Schimmelpfennig  2 , Karolin Wiedemann  2 , Dennis Löffler  2 , Christoph Kämpf  2 , Conny Blumert  2 , Kristin Reiche  2   3 , Manfred Kunz  1 , Ulf Anderegg  1 , Jan-Christoph Simon  1 , Mirjana Ziemer  1
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Atypical fibroxanthoma and pleomorphic dermal sarcoma - gene expression analysis compared with undifferentiated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Iris Marie Anders et al. J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2023 May.

Abstract

Background: The histogenetic origin of atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX) and pleomorphic dermal sarcoma (PDS) has not been definitively elucidated. In addition to a fibroblastic origin, a keratinocytic differentiation is discussed due to strong clinical, histomorphological and molecular genetic similarities with undifferentiated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC).

Patients and methods: 56 cases (36 AFXs, 8 PDSs, 12 undifferentiated cSCCs) were evaluated for their clinical, histomorphological, and immunohistochemical characteristics. RNA transcriptome analysis was performed on 18 cases (6 AFXs/PDSs, 6 undifferentiated cSCCs, 6 differentiated cSCCs).

Results: Clinically, the strong similarities in age, gender and tumor location were confirmed. Without further immunohistochemical staining, histomorphological differentiation between AFX/PDS and undifferentiated cSCC is often impossible. Principal component analysis of the RNA transcriptome analysis showed that AFX/PDS and differentiated cSCC each formed their own cluster, while the undifferentiated cSCCs fall in between these two groups, but without forming a cluster of their own. When examining differentially expressed genes (DEGs), the heat maps showed that there were cases within the undifferentiated cSCC that were more likely to be AFX/PDS than differentiated cSCC based on their expression profile.

Conclusions: The results provide evidence of molecular similarities between AFX/PDS and undifferentiated cSCC and suggest a common histogenetic origin.

Keywords: atypical fibroxanthoma; pleomorphic dermal sarcoma; undifferentiated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

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References

REFERENCES

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