Thoracic SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor with associated granulomatous reaction and response to pembrolizumab.

Abstract

Thoracic SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor (SMARCA4-UT) is a rare entity that was recently described in the current World Health Organization Classification of Tumors. These lesions are highly aggressive with dismal prognosis, and most patients present with metastasis at the time of diagnosis. While there are about 100 cases of SMARCA4-UT described in the literature, there are only few existing reports that describe the cytomorphology of these lesions. We present a patient with masses involving the mediastinum, right lung, right supraclavicular lymph node and right adrenal gland. Subsequent core-needle biopsy of the right supraclavicular lymph node showed epithelioid to pleomorphic tumor cells with prominent nucleoli and associated granulomatous inflammation. The tumor cells were positive for CD34 and synaptophysin, and were negative for cytokeratins. SMARCA4 and SMARCA2 both showed loss of expression, which led to the diagnosis of SMARCA4-UT. The patient underwent treatment with pembrolizumab (PD-1 blocker), carboplatin, etoposide, and radiotherapy, resulting in an almost 55% reduction in the size of the primary tumor. Our case illustrates that an associated granulomatous inflammation might be an uncommon presentation of an already rare malignancy, and awareness of this phenomenon would prevent from mistaking SMARCA4-UT for other more well-known entities that can present with granulomas.