Salivary gland monomorphic adenoma. Ultrastructural, immunoperoxidase, and histogenetic aspects.

Monomorphic adenoma of basal cell type is a salivary gland tumor believed to result from a proliferation of a single type of cell. However, ultrastructural and immunocytochemical investigations of 6 monomorphic adenomas (5 from parotid and 1 from intraoral minor salivary gland) indicate that there are two classes of these lesions, one composed of two types of tumor cells and the other wholly or predominantly made up of one type of cell (isomorphic). In the former group, the organization of the tumor cells closely mimicked that of normal and hyperplastic salivary gland intercalated ducts. Aggregates of tumor cells were arranged as an inner layer of luminal epithelial cells which were surrounded by an outer layer of cells that, in some cases, had ultrastructural and immunohistochemical features indicating myoepithelial cell differentiation. In some adenomas formed by two types of tumor cells, basal-lamina-lined extracellular spaces were identified ultrastructurally in relation to modified myoepithelial cells; such spaces had the same fine-structural features as those reported in pleomorphic adenoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma. Predominantly isomorphic adenomas were composed exclusively of luminal epithelial cells. These results indicate that despite the varied histologic patterns in the numerous subtypes of monomorphic adenoma, there is a central theme of differentiation and organization in this type of neoplasm which recapitulates the ductoacinar unit of normal salivary gland parenchyma.