A. Abati et al., Utilization of microdissection and the polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of adrenal cortical carcinoma in fine-needle aspiration cytology, CANC CYTOP, 87(4), 1999, pp. 231-237
BACKGROUND, Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) for several tumor suppressor genes
(including loci on 3p, 1, and 17p,) has been documented in surgical specim
ens of adrenal cortical carcinomas (ACCA) without accompanying losses in be
nign hyperplastic and adenomatous adrenal cortical lesions (ACL). This disp
arate pattern of LOH raises the possibility of exploitation of these differ
ences for diagnostic utilization. Cytologic differentiation of benign versu
s malignant ACL may be impossible based solely on fine-needle aspiration (F
NA) material. The authors attempted to extrapolate the genetic findings on
surgical specimens to FNA specimens of ACL to determine whether LOH studies
could be utilized as a definitive diagnostic tool.
METHODS. Microdissection of archival material was performed on FNAs of ten
ACCAs (stained with the Papanicolaou and Diff-Quik stains) with correspondi
ng histologic material (stained with hematoxylin and eosin), one FNA of a b
enign ACL, and three touch preparations of benign adrenal cortex. LOH analy
sis was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with flanking markers
for the following putative tumor suppressor genes: p53 (17p13; TP53), 1p (1
p36; D1S165), and the von Hippel-Lindau gene at 3p25 (D3S1038 and D3S1110).
RESULTS. Similar results were obtained with cytologic and histologic materi
al. As expected, benign ACL showed no LOH for the markers examined. Of the
informative ACCA cases, 70% showed LOH for at least 1 of the 3 markers test
ed on both FNA and histologic samples. For all cases with amplifiable DNA,
there was a 100% concordance rate for LOH between cytologic and histologic
material, with at least 7 of the 10 cytologic samples originating from meta
static lesions and all of the surgical material originating from the primar
y adrenal neoplasm.
CONCLUSIONS. The results of this study suggest that the combination of micr
odissection and PCR for LOH of p5, 1p, and 3p25 from FNA material has the p
otential to be utilized to distinguish ACCA from benign ACL in informative
cases. It also shows a 100% concordance rate between metastatic and primary
ACCAs for the losses observed, a finding that can be extremely useful for
the definitive identification of metastatic lesions. Archival cytologic pre
parations of ACCA are a reliable source of DNA for LOH studies. [See editor
ial counterpoint on pages 173-5 and reply to counterpoint on pages 176-7, t
his issue.] (C) 1999 American Cancer Society.