Cat with rare malignant nerve sheath tumor and muscle cancer cells

Abstract

Divergent differentiation is encountered frequently within human malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (MPNSTs). The new component is often a rhabdomyosarcoma, but in animals this specific form of divergent differentiation within MPNSTs has only been reported once (in a dog). Incisional wedge biopsy of a locally extensive, ventral abdominal wall mass, which extended from the dermis to the subcutis, from a 12-year-old female domestic shorthaired cat, was performed. The tissue was examined with routine haematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical methods. A malignant neoplasm with spindle and polygonal cell components and progression towards a rhabdomyosarcomatous phenotype was observed. Both neoplastic cell populations exhibited strong expression of vimentin and there was multifocal expression of S100 and desmin. There was strong cytoplasmic labelling for α-sarcomeric actin and muscle actin and weak labelling for myoglobin within the cells positive for desmin. There was multifocal positive nuclear labelling for myogenin. Glial fibrillary acidic protein, α-smooth muscle actin, microphthalmia-associated transcription factor and melanoma antigen recognized by T cells were not expressed. Microscopical features, aided by immunohistochemistry, identified a MPNST with progression towards a rhabdomyosarcomatous phenotype, a so-called 'triton tumour'. A Schwann cell component could account for the divergent patterns of growth, given the plasticity of the neural crest. Nerve sheath tumours have been reported in the skin and subcutis of cats and are a differential diagnosis of feline cutaneous spindle cell neoplasms.