Hi Eiki have you ever seen giant cells in melanoma tissue biopsies with multiploid nuclei. not of pure myeloid origin because of non/weak-staining with CD-68 macrophage markers, but positive with CD 51, CD-34 and/or PECAM?
The most common cells in melanoma is a large epitheliod cell .Melanin deposits are sporadically distributed
Hi Norman, thanks for you answer. Are these cells multinucleated? Are the melanin deposits in phagosomes/lysosomes and do they autofluoresce?
Thanks,
Stenni
Hello, not too sure this is related to your question but I reported a case with giant cells in a melanoma a few years ago: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24999544
The tricky part was the MiTF expression although they were not melanocytic.
Hope this helps
Hi Arnaud, very interesting! Why do you call the giant cells "osteoclast-like giant cells"
It was the closest morphological match. I mainly work in grey-zone diagnostic research in melanocytic tumors (undescribed entities) so I tend to use a lot of "-like" suffixes until things are better known. I did not try to deeply characterized by IHC these cells though...Haven't seen any other case like that one since (yet).
They are called "monster cells" in melanoma. Giant multinucleated cells are common in most solid tumors but are often named differently (osteoclast-like, tumor polykaryons, etc) based on the pathologist describing them and the tumor types they are found in. See Boyd et al 2005 "Monster cells in malignant melanoma"
I have written this before .Multinucleated bizarre tumor Giant cells may be seen .I have had difficulty diagnosing malignant melanoma because the tissue may look like infectious inflammatory tissue but histochemical tests made it clear .See Chapter on skin in "Pathologic basis of Disease by SL Robins .ChapterMescon and Grots page 1374 to 1419 Norman Thomas certified Oral Pathology (U.Bris.UK;MCV USA and U.of Alberta Can
Dr. Thomas could you send me a copy of your chapter, or the year and edition? My group has discovered that multinucleated giant cells are a common cell type found in the blood of persons with solid tumors, I am working on compiling data on their existence in the tumor mass themselves.
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