Aneurysmal bone cyst and osteoblastoma after neoadjuvant denosumab: histologic spectrum and potential diagnostic pitfalls
Yin P. Hung
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMiriam A. Bredella
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorIngvild V. K. Lobmaier
Department of Pathology, Oslo University Hospital, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway
Search for more papers by this authorSantiago A. Lozano-Calderón
Department of Orthopedics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAndrew E. Rosenberg
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
G. Petur Nielsen
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
G. Petur Nielsen, Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. e-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYin P. Hung
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMiriam A. Bredella
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorIngvild V. K. Lobmaier
Department of Pathology, Oslo University Hospital, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway
Search for more papers by this authorSantiago A. Lozano-Calderón
Department of Orthopedics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAndrew E. Rosenberg
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
G. Petur Nielsen
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
G. Petur Nielsen, Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. e-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The use of denosumab to treat giant cell tumors of bone (GCT) and other giant cell-containing bone tumors has become more common. While the clinicopathologic features of denosumab-treated giant cell tumors of bone have been well-illustrated, descriptions of other denosumab-treated bone tumors are very limited. Surgical pathology files of two institutions and consultation files from two authors were searched for denosumab-treated aneurysmal bone cysts and denosumab-treated osteoblastomas. Clinicopathologic features were reviewed and analyzed. We identified four patients with denosumab-treated bone tumors other than GCT from our surgical pathology and consultation files, including two aneurysmal bone cysts and two osteoblastomas. All were treated with denosumab for 0.5-7.0 (median 4.5) months. Radiologically, denosumab-treated tumors showed decreased size with increased ossification and mineralization on CT and heterogeneous intermediate to hypointense signal on MRI. Histologically, denosumab-treated aneurysmal bone cyst contained thin, elongated, curvilinear, and anastomosing strands of bone with empty lacunae, while denosumab-treated osteoblastoma showed circumscribed nodules of woven bone lined by small osteoblasts. Denosumab-treated aneurysmal bone cyst and osteoblastoma showed treatment-related morphologic changes that can mimic other bone neoplasms. Their recognition requires correlation with the clinical history of denosumab use and radiologic findings.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
YPH, AER, and GPN received royalties from Elsevier for authoring pathology book chapters, which are unrelated to this study.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
REFERENCES
- 1Thomas D, Henshaw R, Skubitz K, Chawla S, Staddon A, Blay JY, et al. Denosumab in patients with giant-cell tumour of bone: an open-label, phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 2010; 11(3): 275–80.
- 2Chawla S, Blay JY, Rutkowski P, Le Cesne A, Reichardt P, Gelderblom H, et al. Denosumab in patients with giant-cell tumour of bone: a multicentre, open-label, phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 2019; 20(12): 1719–29.
- 3Branstetter DG, Nelson SD, Manivel JC, Blay JY, Chawla S, Thomas DM, et al. Denosumab induces tumor reduction and bone formation in patients with giant-cell tumor of bone. Clin Cancer Res. 2012; 18(16): 4415–24.
- 4Behjati S, Tarpey PS, Presneau N, Scheipl S, Pillay N, Van Loo P, et al. Distinct H3F3A and H3F3B driver mutations define chondroblastoma and giant cell tumor of bone. Nat Genet. 2013; 45(12): 1479–82.
- 5Cleven AH, Hocker S, Briaire-de Bruijn I, Szuhai K, Cleton-Jansen AM, Bovee JV. Mutation analysis of H3F3A and H3F3B as a diagnostic tool for giant cell tumor of bone and chondroblastoma. Am J Surg Pathol. 2015; 39(11): 1576–83.
- 6Rutkowski P, Gaston L, Borkowska A, Stacchiotti S, Gelderblom H, Baldi GG, et al. Denosumab treatment of inoperable or locally advanced giant cell tumor of bone - Multicenter analysis outside clinical trial. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2018; 44(9): 1384–90.
- 7Errani C, Tsukamoto S, Leone G, Righi A, Akahane M, Tanaka Y, et al. Denosumab may increase the risk of local recurrence in patients with giant-cell tumor of bone treated with curettage. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2018; 100(6): 496–504.
- 8Tsukamoto S, Tanaka Y, Mavrogenis AF, Kido A, Kawaguchi M, Errani C. Is Treatment with denosumab associated with local recurrence in patients with giant cell tumor of bone treated with curettage? A systematic review. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2020; 478(5): 1076–85.
- 9Vergel De Dios AM, Bond JR, Shives TC, McLeod RA, Unni KK. Aneurysmal bone cyst. A clinicopathologic study of 238 cases. Cancer. 1992; 69(12): 2921–31.
10.1002/1097-0142(19920615)69:12<2921::AID-CNCR2820691210>3.0.CO;2-E CAS PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
- 10Mankin HJ, Hornicek FJ, Ortiz-Cruz E, Villafuerte J, Gebhardt MC. Aneurysmal bone cyst: a review of 150 patients. J Clin Oncol. 2005; 23(27): 6756–62.
- 11Della Rocca C, Osteoblastoma HAG. varied histological presentations with a benign clinical course. An analysis of 55 cases. Am J Surg Pathol. 1996; 20(7): 841–50.
- 12Oliveira AM, Hsi BL, Weremowicz S, Rosenberg AE, Dal Cin P, Joseph N, et al. USP6 (Tre2) fusion oncogenes in aneurysmal bone cyst. Cancer Res. 2004; 64(6): 1920–3.
- 13Ye Y, Pringle LM, Lau AW, Riquelme DN, Wang H, Jiang T, et al. TRE17/USP6 oncogene translocated in aneurysmal bone cyst induces matrix metalloproteinase production via activation of NF-kappaB. Oncogene. 2010; 29(25): 3619–29.
- 14Fittall MW, Mifsud W, Pillay N, Ye H, Strobl AC, Verfaillie A, et al. Recurrent rearrangements of FOS and FOSB define osteoblastoma. Nat Commun. 2018; 9(1): 2150.
- 15Amary F, Markert E, Berisha F, Ye H, Gerrand C, Cool P, et al. FOS expression in osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma: a valuable ancillary diagnostic tool. Am J Surg Pathol. 2019; 43(12): 1661–7.
- 16Lam SW, Cleven AHG, Kroon HM, Briaire-de Bruijn IH, Szuhai K, Bovee J. Utility of FOS as diagnostic marker for osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma. Virchows Arch. 2020; 476(3): 455–63.
- 17Lange T, Stehling C, Frohlich B, Klingenhofer M, Kunkel P, Schneppenheim R, et al. Denosumab: a potential new and innovative treatment option for aneurysmal bone cysts. Eur Spine J. 2013; 22(6): 1417–22.
- 18Pauli C, Fuchs B, Pfirrmann C, Bridge JA, Hofer S, Bode B. Response of an aggressive periosteal aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC) of the radius to denosumab therapy. World J Surg Oncol. 2014; 12: 17.
- 19Pelle DW, Ringler JW, Peacock JD, Kampfschulte K, Scholten DJ 2nd, Davis MM, et al. Targeting receptor-activator of nuclear kappaB ligand in aneurysmal bone cysts: verification of target and therapeutic response. Transl Res. 2014; 164(2): 139–48.
- 20Skubitz KM, Peltola JC, Santos ER, Cheng EY. Response of aneurysmal bone cyst to denosumab. Spine. 2015; 40(22): E1201–4.
- 21Dubory A, Missenard G, Domont J, Court C. Interest of denosumab for the treatment of giant-cells tumors and aneurysmal bone cysts of the spine. about nine cases. Spine. 2016; 41(11): E654–60.
- 22Ghermandi R, Terzi S, Gasbarrini A, Denosumab BS. non-surgical treatment option for selective arterial embolization resistant aneurysmal bone cyst of the spine and sacrum. Case report. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2016; 20(17): 3692–5.
- 23Ntalos D, Priemel M, Schlickewei C, Thiesen DM, Rueger JM, Spiro AS. Therapeutic management of a substantial pelvic aneurysmatic bone cyst including the off-label use of denosumab in a 35-year-old female patient. Case Rep Orthop. 2017; 2017: 9125493.
- 24Asi KW, Abdelmeguid A, Bell D, Hanna EY. Massive aneurysmal bone cyst of the skull base treated with denosumab. Head Neck. 2018; 40(12): E107–E13.
- 25Fontenot PB, Jesurajan J, Bui M, Reed D, Binitie O. Recurrent aneurysmal bone cyst of the distal fibula treated with denosumab and curettage. Case Rep Oncol Med. 2018; 2018: 1574343.
- 26Kurucu N, Akyuz C, Ergen FB, Yalcin B, Kosemehmetoglu K, Ayvaz M, et al. Denosumab treatment in aneurysmal bone cyst: Evaluation of nine cases. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2018; 65(4).
- 27Palmerini E, Ruggieri P, Angelini A, Boriani S, Campanacci D, Milano GM, et al. Denosumab in patients with aneurysmal bone cysts: A case series with preliminary results. Tumori. 2018; 104(5): 344–51.
- 28Patel RS, Dhamne CA, Gopinathan A, Kumar N, Kumar N. Denosumab: a potential treatment option for aneurysmal bone cyst of the atlas. Eur Spine J. 2018; 27(Suppl 3): 494–500.
- 29Durr HR, Grahneis F, Baur-Melnyk A, Knosel T, Birkenmaier C, Jansson V, et al. Aneurysmal bone cyst: results of an off label treatment with Denosumab. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2019; 20(1): 456.
- 30Grahneis F, Klein A, Baur-Melnyk A, Knosel T, Birkenmaier C, Jansson V, et al. Aneurysmal bone cyst: a review of 65 patients. J Bone Oncol. 2019; 18: 100255.
- 31Kulkarni AG, Patel A. Denosumab: a potential new treatment option for recurrent Aneurysmal Bone Cyst of the spine. SICOT J. 2019; 5: 10.
- 32Raux S, Bouhamama A, Gaspar N, Brugieres L, Entz-Werle N, Mallet C, et al. Denosumab for treating aneurysmal bone cysts in children. Orthop Traumatol Surg Res. 2019; 105(6): 1181–5.
- 33Upfill-Brown A, Bukata S, Bernthal NM, Felsenfeld AL, Nelson SD, Singh A, et al. Use of denosumab in children with osteoclast bone dysplasias: report of three cases. JBMR plus. 2019; 3(10):e10210.
- 34Harcus M, Aldridge S, Abudu A, Jeys L, Senniappan S, Morgan H, et al. The efficacy of denosumab in the management of a tibial paediatric aneurysmal bone cyst compromised by rebound hypercalcaemia. Case Rep Pediatr. 2020; 2020: 8854441.
- 35Alhumaid I, Abu-Zaid A. Denosumab therapy in the management of aneurysmal bone cysts: a comprehensive literature review. Cureus. 2019; 11(1):e3989.
- 36Reynolds JJ, Rothenfluh DA, Athanasou N, Wilson S, Kieser DC. Neoadjuvant denosumab for the treatment of a sacral osteoblastoma. Eur Spine J. 2018; 27(Suppl 3): 446–52.
- 37Kooner P, Ferguson P. The use of denosumab in osteoblastoma of the metacarpal. J Hand Surg Am. 2019; 44(11): 994.e1–994.e6.
- 38Mak IW, Evaniew N, Popovic S, Tozer R, Ghert M. A translational study of the neoplastic cells of giant cell tumor of bone following neoadjuvant denosumab. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2014; 96(15): e127.
- 39Wojcik J, Rosenberg AE, Bredella MA, Choy E, Hornicek FJ, Nielsen GP, et al. Denosumab-treated giant cell tumor of bone exhibits morphologic overlap with malignant giant cell tumor of bone. Am J Surg Pathol. 2016; 40(1): 72–80.
- 40Erdogan KE, Devec IM, Paydas S, Gonlusen G. Morphologic evaluation of the effect of denosumab on giant cell tumors of bone and a new grading scheme. Pol J Pathol. 2016; 67(4): 392–7.
- 41Girolami I, Mancini I, Simoni A, Baldi GG, Simi L, Campanacci D, et al. Denosumab treated giant cell tumour of bone: a morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular analysis of a series. J Clin Pathol. 2016; 69(3): 240–7.
- 42Roitman PD, Jauk F, Farfalli GL, Albergo JI, Aponte-Tinao LA. Denosumab-treated giant cell tumor of bone. Its histologic spectrum and potential diagnostic pitfalls. Hum Pathol. 2017; 63: 89–97.
- 43Kato I, Furuya M, Matsuo K, Kawabata Y, Tanaka R, Ohashi K. Giant cell tumours of bone treated with denosumab: histological, immunohistochemical and H3F3A mutation analyses. Histopathology. 2018; 72(6): 914–22.
- 44Luengo-Alonso G, Mellado-Romero M, Shemesh S, Ramos-Pascua L, Pretell-Mazzini J. Denosumab treatment for giant-cell tumor of bone: a systematic review of the literature. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2019; 139(10): 1339–49.
- 45Tariq MU, Umer M, Khan Z, Saeed J, Siddiqui MA, Din NU. Spectrum of histological features of Denosumab treated Giant Cell Tumor of Bone; potential pitfalls and diagnostic challenges for pathologists. Ann Diagn Pathol. 2020; 45: 151479.
- 46Treffel M, Lardenois E, Larousserie F, Karanian M, Gomez-Brouchet A, Bouvier C, et al. Denosumab-treated giant cell tumors of bone: a clinicopathologic analysis of 35 cases from the French group of bone pathology. Am J Surg Pathol. 2020; 44(1): 1–10.
- 47Hung YP, Fisch AS, Diaz-Perez JA, Iafrate AJ, Lennerz JK, Nardi V, et al. Identification of EWSR1-NFATC2 fusion in simple bone cysts. Histopathology. 2021; 78(6): 849–56.
- 48Chow LT. Giant cell rich osteosarcoma revisited-diagnostic criteria and histopathologic patterns, Ki67, CDK4, and MDM2 expression, changes in response to bisphosphonate and denosumab treatment. Virchows Arch. 2016; 468(6): 741–55.
- 49Won KY, Kalil RK, Kim YW, Park YK. RANK signalling in bone lesions with osteoclast-like giant cells. Pathology. 2011; 43(4): 318–21.
- 50Kerr DA, Brcic I, Diaz-Perez JA, Shih A, Wilky BA, Pretell-Mazzini J, et al. Immunohistochemical characterization of giant cell tumor of bone treated with denosumab: support for osteoblastic differentiation. Am J Surg Pathol. 2021; 45(1): 93–100.