Pattern of Different Immunohistochemical Stains in Various Types of Hepatoblastoma

Abstract

Objective: To assess the utility of four immunohistochemical stains in the categorization of hepatoblastoma.

Study Design: Retrospective longitudinal study.

Place and Duration of Study: Histopathology Department, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Peshawar Pakistan, from 2016 to 2018.

Methodology: We retrospectively reviewed 50 cases of hepatoblastoma from 2016-2018, from our hospital database and studied the pattern of four immunohistochemical stains (Beta-catenin, Glutamine synthetase, Heppar 1 and Cyclin D1) in various subtypes.

Results: Ten out of fifty cases were mixed epithelial and mesenchymal hepatoblastomas, and forty were pure epithelial. In the pure epithelial category, the fetal subtype showed Heppar 1 and Cyclin D1 positivity in twenty-eight cases, while Glutamine synthetase and Beta-catenin were positive in all the thirty cases. One case of embryonal subtype displayed negativity for Heppar 1; the rest of the immunohistochemical stains were positive. Ten tumours exhibiting mixed epithelial and mesenchymal morphology showed positivity for all the four immunohistochemical stains in the epithelial component. However, Heppar 1 and cyclin D1 were negative in the mesenchymal component in all the ten cases. Five cases (50%) showed Glutamine synthetase and Beta-catenin positivity in the mesenchymal component.

Conclusion: All the four immunohistochemical stains, especially Beta-catenin and Glutamine synthetase, were efficient diagnostic tool, especially for tumours with complex or vague morphological features.