The clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features of 60 cutaneous glomus tumor: a retrospective case series study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Glomus Tumor (GT) are benign neoplasms that originate from mesenchymal cells. It presents as tenderness and cold allodynia in the digits, especially in the subungual region. There are a few studies that investigated the mechanism of pain. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the clinical-pathologic characteristics of GT and to identify the expression of IL-1ß, IL-6, and CGRP in it, further, to explore the possible mechanism of pain. METHODS: The clinical and pathological data of 60 GT patients were retrospectively analyzed. Tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry were used to measure the expression of IL-1ß, IL-6 and CGRP. RESULTS: GT is more common in females and the ratio of male to was near to 12, mostly in middle-aged people. It often occurs in fingertips, especially the thumbs. Patients often present with spontaneous pain, tenderness, and cold hypersensitivity. Both the two pain mediators IL-1ß and IL-6 were highly expressed in GT cells of patients with and without cold hypersensitivity. While CGRP was not expressed in GT. STUDY LIMITATIONS: Low sample size and further research is needed to explore the specific mechanism. CONCLUSIONS: IL-1ß and IL-6 were highly expressed in GT cells, suggesting that IL-1ß and IL-6 have certain nociceptive roles in GT. In the 4 patients with cold intolerance, the intensity of IL-1ß and IL-6 staining was also strong, suggesting that they may not play a role in the cold hypersensitivity. However, since there are only 4 patients with cold intolerance, it's necessary to conduct further in-depth research using a larger sample size. The specific role of CGRP in GT has not been found yet.