Whole Exome Sequencing Identifies Somatic Variants in an Oral Composite Hemangioendothelioma Characterized by...

Composite hemangioendothelioma (CHE) is considered a borderline malignant vascular tumor defined by an admixture of distinct vascular neoplastic components. A 21-year-old female is presented herein with a 1 cm painless mandibular vestibular mass of less than a year duration. The infiltrating tumor was characterized by dilated vascular channels lined by endothelial cells with bland ovoid or round nuclei exhibiting, occasionally, hobnail/matchstick-like arrangement. Intravascular cell proliferations with hyaline globular deposits were also present. Additionally, lobular spindle and epithelioid cell aggregates, as well as slit-like spaces exhibiting a retiform or angiosarcomatous morphology were observed. Intracytoplasmic signet-ring or lipoblast-like vacuolization was also noted. Mitotic activity was exceptionally rare. Vascular spaces and the stroma featured lymphocytes and plasma cells. Neoplastic cells were positive for CD31, CD34, D2-40 and ERG, negative for CAMTA1 and synaptophysin, while type IV collagen highlighted the plasmalemma of most vessels and hyaline globules. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed gene rearrangements in both YAP1 and MAML2 genes, in keeping with a YAP1-MAML2 fusion. Whole exome sequencing (WES) identified three missense mutations FLT1 [p.R1016G], PIK3CA [p.H1047L], and C11orf42 [p.A304P] and a mitochondrial frameshift insertion MT-ND4 [c.1107_1108insC; p.P370fs]. These WES results suggest that FLT1 and/or PIK3CA variants may contribute to tumor growth/transformation while the MT-ND4 variant may relate to proliferation, angiogenesis and/or inhibition of apoptosis.