Characterization of pyruvate kinase from human rhabdomyosarcoma in relation to immunohistochemical and morphological criteria.

ABSTRACT

We have compared the pyruvate kinase (PK) isoenzyme pattern of three rhabdomyosarcomas with foetal skeletal muscle tissue of 19 and 23 weeks of gestation, together with adult muscle in relation to immunohistochemical and morphological criteria. In foetal tissue of 19 weeks of gestation a focal immunopositivity for desmin and myoglobin was observed, whereas in tissue of 23 weeks an overall positivity for these proteins was present. Two of the three neoplasms were poorly differentiated and of the alveolar subtype. They were desmin immunoreactive. Some large spindle-shaped cells expressed myoglobin. The third one was more differentiated in microscopic characteristics and all cells showed immunoreactivity for desmin and myoglobin. In the foetal tissues five forms of pyruvate kinase isoenzymes were present with K2M2 as the predominant form. In adult muscle tissue only M4 was present. The tumors were characterized by a profound shift to the K-type, whereas the M4-type was not expressed at all. A difference in isoenzyme composition of pyruvate kinase was found between the morphologically less differentiated tumors and the more differentiated tumor; in the latter more M-subunits were expressed.