Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the ovary confirmed by CD99 immunostaining, karyotypic analysis, and RT-PCR for EWS/FLI-1 chimeric mRNA

Abstract

We report a case of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET), which belongs to the PNET/Ewing's sarcoma family, arising in the left ovary of a 29-year-old woman. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of solid nests and sheets of monotonous, primitive, small round cells with a few rosettes, making it difficult to distinguish from small cell carcinoma of the ovary. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells showed intense cell-membranous immunoreactivity for MIC2 protein (CD99). A short-term cell culture and karyotypic analysis revealed the tumor to possess a balanced t(11;22)(q24;q12) chromosomal translocation that is highly specific for tumors of the PNET/Ewing's sarcoma family. In addition, EWS/FLI-1 chimeric mRNA that originated from the characteristic chromosomal translocation was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. These results confirmed the diagnostic validity of the present tumor being a pPNET, thus raising the possibility that in the past, pPNETs which have arisen in the ovary may have been mistakenly diagnosed as small cell carcinomas of the ovary.