Pan-tropomyosin receptor kinase immunoreactivity, ETV6-NTRK3 fusion subtypes, and RET rearrangement in salivary secretory carcinoma

Abstract

Salivary secretory carcinoma (SASC) is frequently associated with ETV6-neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) 3 fusion and more rarely with RET, MET, or ALK rearrangement. We aimed to elucidate the potential diagnostic utility of pan-tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) immunohistochemistry and its relationship with the fusion gene subtype in SASC. We examined 33 cases of SASC for immunoexpression of pan-Trk, ALK and ROS1, and gene rearrangement of the ETV6, NTRK3, and RET genes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Thirty (90.9%) of 33 SASCs harbored ETV6-NTRK3 fusion gene transcripts by RT-PCR and/or both ETV6 and NTRK3 gene rearrangements by FISH, and 3 cases (9.1%) had RET gene rearrangement. Most NTRK3-rearranged SASCs (27/33 cases; 81.8%) had conventional ETV6 exon 5-NTRK3 exon 15 fusion, whereas 2 cases (6.1%) had both the conventional fusion and a novel ETV6 exon 4-NTRK3 exon 15 fusion variant. In the remaining one case (3%), only FISH revealed both ETV6 and NTRK3 rearrangements, suggesting an ETV6-NTRK3 fusion with an as yet undetermined break point. All 30 SASCs with ETV6-NTRK3 fusion and/or NTRK3 rearrangement showed nuclear and cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for pan-Trk. In contrast, 3 SASCs with RET rearrangement showed negative or only weak cytoplasmic staining for pan-Trk. There was no case harboring ALK and ROS1 rearrangements. All 17 non-SASC tumors were negative for pan-Trk. The results suggest that nuclear and cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for pan-TRK may be helpful to identify ETV6-NTRK3-fused SASCs and to distinguish them from RET-rearranged SASCs and morphological mimics.

Keywords: NTRK3; Pan-Trk; RET; Salivary; Secretory carcinoma.