The genetics of vascular tumours: An update Review


Authors: Torrence, D.; Antonescu, C. R.
Review Title: The genetics of vascular tumours: An update
Abstract: Recent molecular advances have shed significant light on the classification of vascular tumours. Except for haemangiomas, vascular lesions remain difficult to diagnose, owing to their rarity and overlapping clinical, radiographic and histological features across malignancies. In particular, challenges still remain in the differential diagnosis of epithelioid vascular tumours, including epithelioid haemangioma and epithelioid haemangioendothelioma at the benign/low-grade end of the spectrum, and epithelioid angiosarcoma at the high-grade end. Historically, the classification of vascular tumours has been heavily dependent on the clinical setting and histological features, as traditional immunohistochemical markers across the group have often been non-discriminatory. The increased application of next-generation sequencing in clinical practice, in particular targeted RNA sequencing (such as Archer, Illumina), has led to numerous novel discoveries, mainly recurrent gene fusions (e.g. those involving FOS, FOSB, YAP1, and WWTR1), which have resulted in refined tumour classification and improved diagnostic reproducibility for vascular tumours. However, other molecular alterations besides fusions have been discovered in vascular tumours, including somatic mutations (e.g. involving GNA family and IDH genes) in a variety of haemangiomas, as well as copy number alterations in high-grade angiosarcomas (e.g. MYC amplifications). Moreover, the translation of these novel molecular abnormalities into diagnostic ancillary markers, either fluorescence in-situ hybridisation probes or surrogate immunohistochemical markers (FOSB, CAMTA1, YAP1, and MYC), has been remarkable. This review will focus on the latest molecular discoveries covering both benign and malignant vascular tumours, and will provide practical diagnostic algorithms, highlighting frequently encountered pitfalls and challenges in the diagnosis of vascular lesions. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Journal Title: Histopathology
Volume: 80
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0309-0167
Publisher: Wiley Blackwell  
Date Published: 2022-01-01
Start Page: 19
End Page: 32
Language: English
DOI: 10.1111/his.14458
PUBMED: 34958509
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: Review -- Export Date: 1 February 2022 -- Source: Scopus
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  1. Cristina R Antonescu
    895 Antonescu