title: A malignant cutaneous neuroendocrine tumor with features of Merkel cell carcinoma and differentiating neuroblastoma.
abstract: We report an unusual primary cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma that shows histologic and immunohistochemical features of ganglioneuroblastoma/differentiating neuroblastoma. The neoplasm is composed predominantly of small atypical neoplastic cells embedded in distinct clusters of immature and mature ganglion cells with associated neuropil. The neoplastic cells show strong perinuclear staining for cytokeratin 20 (CK20) with a dot-like pattern, supporting our contention that this is an unusual variant of Merkel cell carcinoma. To the best of our knowledge, ganglioneuroblastoma-like differentiation has not been previously described in Merkel cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vanchinathan
authors.forename: Elena C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Marinelli
authors.forename: Reena V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Kartha
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uzieblo
authors.forename: Mahendra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ranchod
authors.forename: Uma N
authors.initials: UN
authors.lastname: Sundram