Primary Renal Synovial Sarcomas: PAX 8 Immunostaining and Unusual Molecular Findings.

Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a high-grade sarcoma that rarely involves the kidney. Eleven renal SS cases were collected in our institution. Immunostaining features and molecular changes of renal SS were further elucidated in this study. PAX 8 was focally positive in 1 monophasic SS and diffusely positive in both the spindled and epithelial components in 1 biphasic SS. These 2 PAX8 expressing renal SS were confirmed by the presence of the classic t(X;18) translocation. Our study also revealed the presence of extra copies of the SS18 in one biphasic SS and one poorly differentiated SS. The SS18 (SYT) gene rearrangement is useful for confirming the SS diagnosis. However, a negative test (FISH or RT-PCR) does not rule out the diagnosis. Although not as common, other chromosomal alterations, such as polysomy 18, indeed occur in renal synovial sarcoma.