Negative MDM2/CDK4 immunoreactivity does not fully exclude MDM2/CDK4 amplification in a subset of atypical lipomatous tumor/ well differentiated liposarcoma

Abstract

Our main goal was to investigate the potential utility of MDM2/CDK4 immunohistochemistry to act as surrogate for FISH to identify a subset of lipoma-like ALT/WDL that might, otherwise, be underdiagnosed on initial screening. Lack of cytologic atypia in lipomatous tumors with negative expression for MDM2/CDK4 IHC does not fully exclude the possibility of underlying MDM2/CDK4 amplification. Present study identified that isolated CDK4/p16 positive expression, in the absence of MDM2 expression, may have potential utility during the initial screening of these tumors but the proportion of conventional lipomas, which may also exhibit low levels of CDK4/p16 expression remains uncertain.

Keywords: Atypical lipomatous tumours; CDK4; FISH; MDM2; P16; immunohistochemistry.