Oral alveolar soft-part sarcoma: review of literature and case report with immunohistochemistry study for prognostic markers.

Objective: To describe a case of alveolar soft-part sarcoma (ASPS) affecting the tongue of a child and to study prognostic imunohistochemical markers for the disease.

Study Design: Tissue sections were incubated with primary antibodies reactive to neuron-specific enolase (NSE), vimentin, desmin, S-100 protein, cytokeratins AE1-AE3, EMA, neurofilament, synaptophysin, and muscle-specific actin (MSA), and for prognostic markers, including Ki-67, p53, bcl-2, bax, and nm23.

Results: Histologically, the tumor showed a proliferation of large polygonal cells with PAS-positive diastase-resistant intracytoplasmatic material, arranged in an alveolar growth pattern. Diffuse positive reaction for neuron specific enolase (NSE), focal reactivity for desmin and S-100 protein, strong positivity for nm23 and bax, but weak reaction for p53 and Ki-67 were found. No bcl-2-positive cells were noted.

Conclusion: These immunohistochemical findings may reflect the less aggressive behavior of ASPS in oral tissues.