Correlation of Histologic Features with Gene Alterations in Pleural Mesothelioma

Abstract

Histologic features, including architectural patterns, cytologic features, and 2021 World Health Organization nuclear grade have been shown to have prognostic significance in epithelioid diffuse pleural mesothelioma (DPM). Biphasic and sarcomatoid DPM, regardless of morphology, have worse outcomes. These prognostic findings are well established but the correlation of architectural patterns, cytologic features, and nuclear grade with genetic alterations has not been well studied. To investigate relationships between histologic findings and genomic alterations, 128 treatment-naïve DPM specimens (70% epithelioid, 23% biphasic, and 6.3% sarcomatoid) with next-generation sequencing data were retrospectively reviewed. Alterations in BAP1 were the most common genomic alteration (n = 62, 48%), followed by CDKN2A (n = 49, 38%) and NF2 (n = 38, 30%). NF2 alterations were significantly more frequent in biphasic DPM (53% in biphasic vs 25% in sarcomatoid and 22% in epithelioid DPM; P = .005). In epithelioid DPM, TP53 alterations were associated with the presence of prognostically unfavorable histology, including micropapillary or solid architecture, pleomorphic features, and high nuclear grade. Tumors with low tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) had a higher rate of BAP1 alterations than tumors with higher levels of TILs (67% vs 30%; P = .002). The findings of this study enhance our understanding of the relationships among prognostically significant histologic and molecular features of DPM and provide preliminary data to support increased integration of these findings in clinical diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma.