Expression patterns of the LPP-HMGA2 fusion transcript in pulmonary chondroid hamartomas with t(3;12)(q27 approximately 28;q14 approximately 15).

The high frequency of the t(3;12)(q27 approximately 28; q14 approximately 15) in lipomas and pulmonary chondroid hamartomas (PCHs) makes the HMGA2-LPP fusion gene the most frequent fusion gene in human tumors. We analyzed 11 PCHs with a t(3;12)(q27 approximately 28;q14 approximately 15) for the expression of the LPP-HMGA2 fusion transcript. In a previous study, all of these tumors were shown to express the HMGA2-LPP fusion transcript, composed of exons 1-3 of HMGA2 and exons 9-11 of LPP. In the present study, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction revealed the expression of the reciprocal fusion transcript in 8 of 11 cases. In all positive tumors, the reciprocal fusion transcripts had the same structure, namely, exons 1-8 of LPP and exons 4-5 of HMGA2 encoding a protein composed of the proline-rich region and the first LIM-domain of LPP and the acidic tail of HMGA2. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the expression of the LPP-HMGA2 fusion transcript in a series of PCHs. Its frequent occurrence in PCHs indicates the absence of a larger deletion of the LPP locus accompanying the translocation, such as has been described in a lipoma. Thus, based on this one finding, a role of LPP-HMGA2 in PCH should be considered.