Histologic evaluation of myoepithelial participation in salivary gland tumors.

To evaluate the myoepithelial participation in various salivary gland tumors, 40 cases were studied using the tannic acid--phosphomolybdic acid--Levanol fast cyanine 5RN (TPL) method directly correlated with ultrastructural observation. The TPL positivity corresponded to cytofilaments, especially microfilaments within the cells showing myoepithelial features. This approach allowed categorization of the examined tumor types into the following 4 groups according to the degree of myoepithelial participation: tumors with major myoepithelial, epithelial-myoepithelial (biphasic), minor myoepithelial, and no myoepithelial participation. It is suggested that the first 2 categories form a spectrum with myoepithelioma and basal cell adenoma at the extremes, in which neoplastic myoepithelial cells assume an active and integral constitutive rôle. The present findings indicate that the TPL method offers a very reliable marker for the screening of neoplastic myoepithelium in salivary gland tumors and thus may help in subclassification on a histogenetic basis for these tumors.