NR4A3 Immunohistochemistry Reliably Discriminates Acinic Cell Carcinoma from Mimics

Abstract

Acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) harbors a recurrent t(4;9)(q13;q31) translocation, which leads to upregulation of Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4 Group A Member 3 (NR4A3). Previous work on tissue microarrays suggests that NR4A3 immunohistochemistry (IHC) may be useful in the diagnosis of AciCC. Thus far, only a single study has evaluated the utility of NR4A3 immunohistochemistry (IHC) in the diagnosis of AciCC, using a tissue microarray to assess most non-AciCC tumor types. Herein we evaluate the diagnostic performance of NR4A3 IHC for AciCC in a large cohort of 157 salivary gland tumors, using whole tissue sections. The cohort consisted of 37 AciCC (6 of them (16%) with high grade transformation), 30 secretory carcinomas (SC), and 90 additional salivary gland tumors, including mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC), polymorphous adenocarcinomas (PAC), pleomorphic adenomas (PA), salivary duct carcinomas (SDC), and adenoid cystic carcinomas (AdCC). NR4A3 nuclear staining by IHC was considered positive if present in more than 5% of tumor cells. Overall, 92% of AciCC (34/37) expressed NR4A3 by IHC, with strong (89%) or moderate (3%) nuclear staining, yielding a sensitivity of 92%. IHC detected NR4A3 expression in all cases of recurrent/metastatic AciCC and tumors with high grade transformation. Importantly, all SC were negative for NR4A3 IHC, with no staining in 28/30 cases and weak focal staining, in < 5% of cells, in 2/30 (7%). Similarly, all MEC (20/20), SDC (20/20) and AdCC (10/10) were negative for NR4A3 by IHC, as were most PA (18/20; 15%) and PAC (18/20; 5%). Two PA and two PAC showed multifocal expression of NR4A3 in more than 5% of cells, of weak intensity in 3 cases and moderate in 1 PAC, yielding an overall specificity of 97% for NR4A3 IHC for the diagnosis of AciCC. In conclusion, NR4A3 is a highly sensitive and specific immunohistochemical marker for AciCC; moderate to strong and/or diffuse NR4A3 expression is a consistent and diagnostic feature of AciCC.