USP6 genetic rearrangements in cellular fibroma of tendon sheath

Fibroma of tendon sheath is a benign (myo)fibroblastic neoplasm of the tenosynovial soft tissues, typically affecting the distal extremities. It is classically described as a paucicellular, densely collagenized tumor; however, cellular variants have been described. A subset of cellular fibromas of tendon sheath shares similar histological features with nodular fasciitis. As nodular fasciitis very frequently harbors rearrangement of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 6 ( USP6 ), we hypothesized that cellular fibromas of tendon sheath with nodular fasciitis-like features may also contain USP6 rearrangements. Cases of fibroma of tendon sheath ( n =19), including cellular ( n =9) and classic ( n =10) variants, were evaluated for USP6 rearrangement by fluorescence in situ hybridization studies. A subset of cases was tested for MYH9 rearrangements and MYH9-USP6 and CDH11-USP6 fusion products. Classic fibroma of tendon sheath occurred in 5 males and 5 females (median age 67 years, range 23–77 years) as soft tissue masses of the hand ( n =4), finger ( n =3), forearm ( n =1) and foot ( n =2). Cellular fibroma of tendon sheath occurred in 5 males and 4 females in a younger age group (median age 32 years, range 12–46 years) as small soft tissue masses of the finger ( n =5), hand ( n =3) and wrist ( n =1). USP6 rearrangements were detected in 6/9 cellular fibromas of tendon sheath. Among cellular fibromas of tendon sheath with USP6 rearrangements, no MYH9 rearrangements were detected. By RT-PCR, neither the MYH9-USP6 or the CDH11-USP6 fusion products were detected in any case. Neither USP6 nor MYH9 rearrangement were detected in any classic fibroma of tendon sheath. We report for the first time the presence of USP6 rearrangements in a subset of cellular fibroma of tendon sheath. Based on the similar morphological and molecular genetic features, we suspect that a subset of cellular fibromas of tendon sheath are under-recognized examples of tenosynovial nodular fasciitis, driven by alternate USP6 fusion genes. Further investigation will delineate how these lesions should best be classified.