Neurothekeomas are benign, predominantly cutaneous
neoplasms that are divided histologically into myxoid, intermediate, and cellular types. Although it is generally agreed that the myxoid type of
neurothekeoma has a neural origin, the lack of consistent immunoreactivity to neural markers and insufficient ultrastructural evidence of neural differentiation in cellular
neurothekeoma have brought the origin of cellular
neurothekeoma into question. In this report the authors show that immunoreactivity to
protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5)--a broad neural marker--is positive in 100% of cases of cellular
neurothekeoma using microwave
antigen retrieval, as well as in all cases of myxoid and intermediate
neurothekeoma. In contrast, immunoreactivity to
S-100 protein is only positive in 3 of 12 cases of cellular
neurothekeoma. These results show that PGP9.5 is a useful marker for identifying cellular
neurothekeoma, as well as other types of
neurothekeomas using the
antigen retrieval method. The results are consistent with the notion that cellular
neurothekeoma has a neural differentiation.