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Eleven soft tissue clear cell sarcomas (CCS) were examined flow cytometrically for their DNA content with a correlation of the DNA with the patients' survival. Diploidy was expressed in six sarcomas and it conferred a longer survival (mean, 68.6 months) than aneuploid sarcomas (mean, 8.2 months). For comparison, 13 metastases to soft tissues from cutaneous melanomas were assessed by flow cytometric study. The aneuploid neoplasms of both entities were categorized into low and high degree based on extent of the DNA index (DI). Low degree was defined by a DI of less than or equal to 1.5 and high degree by a DI of greater than 1.5. Significant differences in DNA content between CCS and metastatic melanomas were observed. Melanomas were preponderantly aneuploid (11/13) of high degree (mean DI, 1.7) whereas CCS manifested more diploidy (six of 11) and their aneuploidy was of a low degree (mean DI, 1.2; P = 0.001). Clear cell sarcomas and melanomas were also examined for their immunoreactivity to S-100 protein and HMB-45 antigen. All CCS reacted with S-100 protein and HMB-45. In CCS the reactions were diffuse for both in six tumors, diffuse with HMB-45 and moderate to S-100 protein in three tumors and diffuse with S-100 and moderate with HMB-45 in two tumors. All melanomas reacted diffusely to S-100 protein except for one heavily pigmented tumor which reacted only focally. The reaction to HMB-45 was diffuse in nine and focal in three melanomas. These data suggest that measurements of DNA content in CCS may be valuable in predicting clinical outcome and that there are quantitative differences in DNA content between CCS and metastatic melanoma in soft tissues.

Flow cytometric DNA analysis was performed on 60 cases of giant cell tumor of bone and the results were correlated with the clinicopathologic features. Tumors studied were from 31 men and 29 women whose ages ranged from 18 to 62 years (median, 29 years). The most common sites were the distal end of the femur and proximal end of the tibia, accounting for 75% of the lesions. Treatment consisted of resection in 29 patients (48%), curettage with bone chip packing in 15 patients (25%), or curettage with cement packing in 16 patients (27%). Ten patients (17%) had local relapse within 1 to 3 years, and two had lung metastases. Forty-two patients (70%) exhibited tumors with a diploid DNA content, 16 aneuploid (27%), and two tetraploid (3%). Six (37.5%) of the aneuploid patients had relapses: one of those had been treated by resection of the tumor and five by curettage. Of the remaining ten (62.5%) unrelapsed aneuploid patients, nine had been treated by resection of the tumor and one by curettage. Four of the 42 diploid patients (9.5%) had relapses; all had been treated by curettage of the tumor. The two tetraploid tumors were treated by resection and none relapsed. Histologic parameters did not correlate with relapse rate or DNA pattern. Although relapse was more common among aneuploid tumors, our study shows that this appears to be influenced by the treatment modality rather than the ploidy status. Based on this study the DNA analysis of giant cell tumor of bone has a limited utility for predicting the tumor's biologic behavior.