Expression of Reciprocal Fusion Transcripts of the HMGIC and LPP Genes in Parosteal Lipoma

Parosteal lipomas are rare benign neoplasms of adipose tissue that exhibit a contiguous relationship with the periosteum. These lipomas of the bone share some histopathologic features with their commonly occurring soft tissue counterparts. The latter are well-characterized cytogenetically, primarily by rearrangements involving chromosome region 12q13–q15. In particular, translocations involving 12q13–q15 are prominent, with chromosomal region 3q27–q28 as the most frequent translocation partner. Recently, we established that the genes HMGIC at 12q15 and LPP at 3q27-28 are affected by the 3;12-translocation and demonstrated that, as a direct result, HMGIC/LPP and LPP/HMGIC fusion transcripts are expressed in soft tissue lipomas. In this study, cytogenetic and molecular analyses revealed similar findings in a parosteal lipoma. Specifically, a t(3;12)(q28;q14) was detected cytogenetically in a parosteal lipoma from a 51-year-old female and subsequently confirmed by FISH utilizing a chromosome 3 breakpoint spanning YAC probe and chromosome 12 breakpoint flanking cosmid probes. RT-PCR analysis showed expression of HMGIC/LPP and LPP/HMGIC fusion transcripts in this parosteal lipoma; nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that these transcripts are identical to those expressed in soft tissue lipomas characterized by a 3;12-translocation. These findings lend further support to a common histopathogenesis between lipomas of soft tissue and parosteal origin.