Pigmented neurofibroma: review of Japanese patients with an analysis of melanogenesis demonstrating coexpression of c-met protooncogene and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor

Pigmented neurofibroma (PNF) is a rare variant of neurofibroma showing melanin production. To clarify the clinicopathologic features of PNF and to characterize melanogenesis in PNF, 12 cases of PNF were examined in comparison with schwannoma (SCH, n = 16) and neurofibroma (NF, n = 26). The PNF patients were all Japanese including 7 men and 5 women, and patient age ranged from 11 to 71 years (median, 23.5 years). They showed strong a predisposition for neurofibromatosis type 1. Their tumor size was large, and tumors arose from various sites of skin. Histologically, clusters of epithelioid, dendritic, and spindle melanin-producing cells with faint pigmentation had a tendency to locate in deep dermis and subcutis, which seems to be a characteristic pattern of melanogenesis. There was a transition between melanin-producing cells and Schwann cells. Immunohistochemical examination included known melanogenic markers, microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), which is a key regulator of melanogenesis, and 2 tyrosine kinase receptors, c-Met and c-Kit, which regulate the development of melanocytes. In PNF, melanin-producing cells were S100 (+), MITF (+), Melan-A (+), tyrosinase (+/−), HMB45 (+/−), c-Met (+), and c-Kit (−). Schwann cells were S100 (+), MITF (−), Melan-A (−), tyrosinase (−), HMB45 (−), c-Met (−), and c-Kit (−), and intermediate spindle cells were S100 (+), MITF (+), Melan-A (+), tyrosinase (−), HMB45 (−), c-Met (+), and c-Kit (−). When compared with SCH and NF, MITF was weakly expressed in a part of tumor cells of SCH, whereas no definite staining was found in NF. c-Met expression was very weak in a scattered manner in SCH (10/15 cases) and NF (10/26 cases). These results suggest that PNF is a unique tumor that shows differentiation toward mature melanin production, but ability of melanin synthesis seems to be impaired. There may be a close relationship between up-regulated MITF and c-Met and the peculiar melanogenic nature of PNF, and both of these are useful diagnostic tools for distinguishing PNFs with less melanin production from NFs.