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Usefulness of β-catenin expression in the differential diagnosis of osteosarcoma, osteoblastoma, and chondroblastoma

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the usefulness of beta-catenin immunohistochemical expression in the differential diagnosis of osteoid-producing primary tumors of bone. Seventy cases of osteoid-producing tumors of bone (24 conventional osteosarcomas, 18 osteoblastomas, 13 osteoblastoma-like osteosarcomas, 10 chondroblastomas, and 5 chondroblastoma-like osteosarcomas) diagnosed at Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli were reviewed and evaluated for the intensity, extension, and subcellular distribution of immunohistochemical expression of beta-catenin. A majority of cases (73%, 51 cases) exhibited cytoplasmic and/or membranous positivity in varied degrees of intensity and proportion of positive cells, in the absence of nuclear staining. Fifteen cases (21%) were completely negative, including two osteoblastomas, five chondroblastomas, three conventional osteosarcomas, four osteoblastoma-like osteosarcomas, and one chondroblastoma-like osteosarcoma. A minority of cases (6%) including three osteoblastoma-like osteosarcomas and one osteoblastoma showed focal nuclear beta-catenin positivity with or without concomitant cytoplasmic staining. In the current series, beta-catenin showed not to be useful in the differential diagnosis of osteoid-producing primary bone tumors.

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Kivilcim Eren Erdogan, Marina Pacheco, Marco Gambarotti, Giovanna Magagnoli, Marta Sbaraglia, Tommaso Frisoni, and Alberto Righi. The draft of the manuscript was written by Kivilcim Eren Erdogan, Marina Pacheco, Alberto Righi, and Angelo Paolo Dei Tos. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

Fundación Martha Stella C. de Vallarino for financial support through a medical educational scholarship to one of the authors (M. Pacheco).

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Author notes

  1. Kivilcim Eren Erdogan and Marina Pacheco contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Cukurova University Medical Faculty, Adana, Turkey

    Kivilcim Eren Erdogan

  2. Department of Pathology, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy

    Marina Pacheco, Marco Gambarotti, Giovanna Magagnoli & Alberto Righi

  3. Department of Pathology, Complejo Hospitalario Metropolitano CSS, Panama, Panama

    Marina Pacheco

  4. Department of Pathology, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Padua, Italy

    Marta Sbaraglia & Angelo Paolo Dei Tos

  5. Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy

    Tommaso Frisoni

  6. Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via di Barbiano 1/10, 40136, Bologna, Italy

    Alberto Righi

  7. Department of Medicine, University of Padua School of Medicine, Padua, Italy

    Angelo Paolo Dei Tos

Authors
  1. Kivilcim Eren Erdogan
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  2. Marina Pacheco
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  8. Angelo Paolo Dei Tos
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Correspondence to Alberto Righi.

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Erdogan, K.E., Pacheco, M., Gambarotti, M. et al. Usefulness of β-catenin expression in the differential diagnosis of osteosarcoma, osteoblastoma, and chondroblastoma. Virchows Arch 479, 529–535 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-020-03004-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-020-03004-2

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