Esophageal ectopic sebaceous glands are very rare lesions. A series of 5 cases in a single report has been the maximum number described in the English literature to date. We conducted a clinicopathologic study of 8 cases of esophageal ectopic sebaceous glands. The median patient age at the time of diagnosis was 60 years (range, 50-71 years), and 7 of the 8 patients were male. A focal lesion was observed in 7 cases, whereas 1 case exhibited multiple lesions throughout the esophagus. Four patients had previously undergone upper gastrointestinal endoscopy; in 3 patients, the focal lesion had not been detected. After diagnosis, 3 cases showed spontaneous regression at least once. Immunohistochemically, sebocytes of all 8 cases were negative for the estrogen receptor (ER) and the progesterone receptor (PgR), whereas sebocytes of 5 cases were positive for the androgen receptor (AR). Basal/parabasal cells were positive for AR, ER, and PgR in 5, 7, and 4 cases, respectively. GATA3 was expressed in the sebocytes and basal/parabasal cells of 6 out of 7 available cases, whereas all of 7 available cases were negative for mammaglobin and GCDFP15. Our report provides the basic clinicopathologic characteristics of esophageal ectopic sebaceous glands by the largest case series reported in English literature to date. Furthermore, the chronological changes, particularly spontaneous regression, and immunohistochemical expression of hormone receptors and GATA3 are compatible with lesions resulting from congenital misplacement under hormonal regulation. Therefore, they seem to be congenital misplacements detectable as a result of hormonal stimulated growth.
Keywords: GATA3; congenital; ectopic sebaceous glands; esophagus; hormone receptor; immunohistochemistry; metaplasia; misplacement.