Approach for reclassification of collecting duct carcinoma and comparative histopathological analysis with SMARCB1/INI1-deficient renal cell carcinoma and fumarate hydratase-deficient renal cell carcinoma

Collecting duct carcinoma (CDC) is a rare subset of high-grade renal cell carcinoma (RCC). To diagnose CDC, it is necessary to rule out other renal tumors including renal medullary carcinoma and fumarate hydratase (FH)-deficient RCC. However, there is overlap in the morphology of these three tumors, which all have poor outcomes. There is also still a need to sufficiently examine the therapeutic strategies for each of these tumors. In this study, we retrospectively reclassified invasive/infiltrating high-grade RCC and investigated its pathological features. We reviewed 18 cases previously diagnosed as “CDC,” “FH-deficient RCC,” and “unclassified RCC,” which were reclassified as SMARCB1/INI1-deficient RCC, FH-deficient RCC, and CDC by SMARCB1/INI1, FH, and 2SC immunohistochemistry (IHC) and FH gene mutational status. As the result, 18 cases were reclassified into 2 cases of SMARCB1/INI1-deficient RCC, 7 cases of FH-deficient RCC, and 9 cases of CDC. The morphological features of each group overlapped, and no specific immunohistochemical expression except for SMARCB1/INI1, FH, and 2SC was detected. These results suggest that invasive/infiltrating high-grade RCC should be diagnosed by the combination of immunohistochemistry and molecular biological technique.