title: Phenotypic diversity in chondromyxoid fibroma reveals differentiation pattern of tumor mimicking fetal cartilage canals development: an immunohistochemical study.
abstract: Chondromyxoid fibroma represents a rare benign cartilaginous tumor of young patients occurring in a subcortical metaphyseal location. The histogenesis of chondromyxoid fibroma has not yet been postulated, even though the conventional histology and recent immunohistochemical studies on phenotype of the mesenchymal cells and extracellular matrix components suggested its origin in immature cartilage. Therefore, we wished to compare the morphological pattern of immature cartilage tissue with chondromyxoid fibroma to investigate a possible developmental counterpart of chondromyxoid fibroma. Archival paraffin-embedded tissues from 4 fetal femora and 10 cases of chondromyxoid fibroma were analyzed simultaneously using histochemistry (safranin O) and established immunohistochemical antibodies (CD34, CD163, and smooth muscle actin). Vascularized cartilage canals growing into the fetal cartilage from the perichondrium displayed characteristic glomeruloid structures with central arterioles within the immature mesenchymal stroma and numerous superficial sinusoidal blood vessels accompanied by macrophage infiltration. Similarly, each case of chondromyxoid fibroma demonstrated admixture of two characteristic components: immature fibrous tissue of vascularized stroma with accumulation of macrophages in areas of superficial sinusoidal proliferation, and variable amounts of lobulated chondroid tissue. Based on the observed substantial morphological similarity between the cartilage canals and chondromyxoid fibroma, we suggest that the chondromyxoid fibroma represents a neoplasm originating from or mimicking the fetal cartilage canals within the immature cartilage.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, University of Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. j.zustin@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Jozef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zustin
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akpalo
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambarotti
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Priemel
authors.forename: Johannes M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rueger
authors.forename: Andreas M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Luebke
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reske
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pueschel
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lohmann
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rüther
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amling
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alberghini
mesh_terms: D002356:Cartilage / Q000473:pathology*; D002812:Chondroma / Q000473:pathology*; D005266:Femoral Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D047109:Fetal Development; D005350:Fibroma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry