Immunohistochemical study of granular cell tumours. Demonstration of neurone specific enolase, S 100 protein, laminin and alpha-1-antichymotrypsin.

Nine granular cell tumours were investigated with poly- or monoclonal antisera to neurone specific enolase (NSE), glial enolase (GE), S 100 protein, alpha-1-antichymotrypsin, lysozyme, laminin, neurofilament (NF), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), brain creatine kinase (CK), different cytokeratins (Keratin Dako, PKK1), tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), desmin, myoglobin and leukocyte common antigen (LCA), using immunoperoxidase-methods on formalin fixed paraffin embedded sections. While five tumours from adults show specific cytoplasmic staining for NSE and S 100, three congenital tumours, two from the gingiva and one from palatine, show only a weak reaction for NSE, reflecting a possible origin from mature and immature Schwann cells, respectively. However, one subcutaneous tumour from near the clavicule of a ten year old girl differs from the other eight tumours by its specific cytoplasmic staining for alpha-1-antichymotrypsin only, supporting the view that there are granular cell tumours of histiocytic origin. In addition, the five adult NSE-S100 tumours show strong laminin-immunostaining around the single small or syncytial granular cells, whereas pericellular laminin is not detectable in the histiocytic nor in the three congenital tumours. None of the tumours shows any staining for lysozyme, epithelial, muscular, leukocyte, neurofilament or glial antigens.