Immunoreactivity for the human hematopoietic progenitor cell antigen (CD34) in lipomatous tumors.

The human hematopoietic progenitor cell antigen (CD34) recently was shown to react with a variety of nonhematopoietic tissues and their tumors, including vascular endothelium, dendritic interstitial fibroblastic cells, and endoneurial cells as well as with the neoplastic cells in a variety of mesenchymal neoplasms of unknown etiology, such as Kaposi's sarcoma, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, epithelioid sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and solitary fibrous tumors. Additionally, it has been claimed that normal adipocytes may also react with this antibody. We studied a series of 90 lipomatous lesions to examine the pattern of immunoreactivity of the CD34 antigen in adipose tissue neoplasms. The study included 14 lipomas, 19 angiolipomas, 4 atypical lipomas, 18 spindle cell lipomas, 3 renal angiomyolipomas, 1 intramuscular lipoma, and 31 liposarcomas. Immunostains identified a network of CD34+ spindle cells admixed with the adipose tissue elements in all cases of lipoma, angiolipoma, angiomyolipoma, intramuscular lipoma, and well-differentiated lipoma-like liposarcoma. Additionally, the spindle cell component in all cases of spindle cell lipoma were strongly positive for this antigen. Atypical, stellate spindle cells and multinucleated "floret" cells in all cases of atypical lipoma as well as in six of 12 cases of well-differentiated lipoma-like liposarcoma of deep soft tissue were also positive for CD34. Scattered spindle cells in all cases of myxoid liposarcoma and in one case of round cell liposarcoma, as well as the sarcomatous component in one case of "dedifferentiated" liposarcoma, were strongly positive for this antigen. The round cells in myxoid liposarcoma and round cell liposarcoma, the signet-ring and multivacuolated lipoblasts in well-differentiated liposarcoma, and the pleomorphic atypical cells in pleomorphic liposarcoma were uniformly negative. The results of this study appear to indicate that lipomatous tumors may harbor a population of CD34+ interstitial dendritic spindle cells. Overgrowth or clonal expansion of this dendritic cell subpopulation may account for the development of spindle cell lipomas and for the spindle cell component in some cases of "dedifferentiated" liposarcoma.