Distribution of collagen type IV in soft tissue tumors. An immunohistochemical study.

The distribution of collagen type IV, one of the major constituents of basement membrane, was studied immunohistologically in a series of 103 soft tissue tumors including those of peripheral nerve origin, smooth muscle origin, striated muscle origin, fibrous tissue origin, fibrohistiocytic origin, adipose tissue origin, synovial tissue origin, and blood vessel origin, paragangliomas, alveolar soft part sarcomas, granular cell tumors, and epithelioid sarcomas. Intensely positive staining for collagen type IV was observed in neurilemomas, neurofibromas, malignant schwannomas, and blood vessel tumors. Weakly to moderately positive staining was seen in leiomyomas, angiomyomas, and leiomyosarcomas. In contrast, synovial, fibroblastic and fibrohistiocytic tumors, benign or malignant, were negative. In paragangliomas, granular cell tumors, and alveolar soft part sarcomas, positive staining was evident surrounding nests or clusters of tumor cells. In all tumors, staining for collagen type IV clearly illustrated the vascular pattern.