Malignant melanoma with areas of rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation arising in a giant congenital nevus with RAF1 gene fusion

Abstract

A girl, born with a posterior lumbosacral giant congenital nevus, developed a central nodule that expanded over a period of 14 months into a 10-cm pedunculated mass. Histological analysis of the mass revealed melanoma of myxoid, small round-cell type with areas of rhabdomyosarcomatous transformation confirmed by immunohistochemistry. RNA sequencing identified an in-frame SASS6(e14)-RAF1(e8) fusion in both components and the nevus. A RAF1 FISH break-apart test found a balanced rearrangement pattern in the nevus and an unbalanced pattern in the malignant areas. Wild-type status of NRAS and BRAF was confirmed by NGS techniques. The array-CGH profile displayed copy number alterations commonly found in rhabdomyosarcomas. Despite intensive treatment, widespread metastatic evolution of the melanomatous component was observed.

Keywords: RAF1 fusion; congenital melanoma; giant congenital nevus; rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation; small-cell melanoma.