[Molecular diagnosis of liposarcomas: identification of the chimeric genes FUS/CHOP and EWS/CHOP]

This paper presents the results of an analysis the chimeric genes FUS/CHOP and EWS/CHOP in patients diagnosed as having liposarcoma in order to make a differential diagnosis in both soft tissue tumors and various variants of liposarcoma. Liposarcomas were found in 5 of 7 cases of primary tumors: 4 chimeric transcripts of the FUS/CHOP type (5-2), a variant of alternative splicing of the FUS/CHOP type (5-2) with depletion in 14 p.n. anda rare variant of the EWS/CHOP type (7-2). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) confirmed translocations in the tumor samples with the chimeric genes being detected. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and FISH revealed no chimeric genes specific to myxoid sarcoma in a group of patients with other variants of liposarcoma. Thus, the findings support the strict specificity of the chimeric genes FUS/CHOP and EWS/CHOP for myxoid liposarcoma and the expression of these genes in most tumors of this type.