To the Editor: I enjoyed reading the article by Kawano et al., showing that a desmoplastic small round cell tumor of the paratesticular region shows similar phenotype and genotype to its abdominal counterpart. However, I must take issue with the legend to Figure 3B, which describes a “desmosome-like structure” seen by electron microscopy. It appears to me that the illustration actually shows a true desmosome, with these features as delineated by Ghadially (1): a widened intercellular gap filled by dense material, attachment plaques on the cytoplasmic faces, and tonofilaments converging on the plaques. Indeed, in the discussion of the same paper, the authors stated that “some tumor cells showed dense core granules, desmosomes, intermediate filaments, and microtubules“ (emphasis added). It is important to distinguish between true desmosomes and desmosome-like structures, because the former are of diagnostic significance, whereas the latter are found in a wide variety of tumors other than lymphoma. It seems critical for an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology to maintain the strictest criteria in nomenclature, to avoid misleading pathologists-in-training and indeed even practicing pathologists.
References
Ghadially FN . Ultrastructural pathology of the cell and matrix. 3rd ed. London: Butterworth; 1988. p. 1112.
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Yen, T. Correspondence Re: Kawano N, Inayama Y, Nagashima Y, Miyagi Y, Uemura H, Saitoh K, et al. Desmoplastic Small Round-Cell Tumor of the Paratesticular Region: Report of an Adult Case with Demonstration of EWS and WT1 Gene Fusion using Paraffin-Embedded Tissue. Mod Pathol 1999;12:729–34.. Mod Pathol 13, 836 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/modpathol.3880147
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/modpathol.3880147