We report on three cases of amyloidosis of the breast, two of which coincided with breast cancer. Patient no. 1, a 60-year-old woman, presented with two mass lesions measuring 2 cm in diameter, one in each breast. Histologically, a tubulo-lobular carcinoma was found in the left breast accompanied by vascular, interstitial, and periductal amyloid deposits; the lesion in the right breast consisted of amyloid deposits only. Patient no. 2, an 86-year-old woman, presented with an ulcerated breast tumor measuring 5 cm in diameter on the left side. A poorly differentiated invasive ductal carcinoma was found in the mastectomy specimen, and it coincided with interstitial and vascular amyloid deposits. In both patients, tumor cells had invaded the amyloid deposits. Patient no. 3, a 73-year-old woman, presented with a mass measuring 5 x 3 x 3 cm in her left breast. Fibrocystic changes, as well as interstitial and periductal amyloid deposits, were found histologically. In each case electron microscopy showed rigid, non-branching fibrils of indefinite length and measuring 10-12 nm in diameter; these were consistent with amyloid fibrils. Clinical data, immunohistochemistry, and/or amino acid sequencing of the fibril proteins extracted from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue specimens provided evidence that the amyloid deposits were of immunoglobulin light chain origin in all three cases. A review of the literature revealed that kappa-light chain has been described more frequently than lambda-light chain in the breast and that there are no specific clinical or radiological symptoms of amyloidosis affecting the breast; a diagnosis can be achieved only by histology.
In 5 cases of invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma of the breast multiple epithelioid and giant cell containing granulomas were detected, localized mainly in circumferential regions, but also in the center of the carcinomas. These granulomas were interpreted as sarcoid-like stromal reactions, occurring as sarcoid-like lesions in uni- and bilateral primaries, in a recurrent tumour, and also in axillary lymph nodes. Histopathologically, these granulomas were not quite uniform, some of them corresponding to typical sarcoidosis, others showing marked proliferations of epithelioid or giant cells or containing fibrinoid exudate or necroses. The granulomas were surrounded by dense infiltrates of mononuclear cells. Tuberculosis and mycosis was excluded. There were no hints of generalized sarcoidosis. Pathogenetically, these are reactions in the tumour stroma of varying intensity, and are not caused by necroses of the tumour tissue nor by microbial infections. Such tumour-associated sarcoid-like stroma reactions are interpreted as a T-cell mediated immune response to an antigen expression of the carcinoma acting as the local trigger; in 2 cases they were connected with sarcoid-like lesions of the axillary lymph nodes. Their occurrence in bilateral carcinoma of the breast points to an immunological disposition for this special kind of host-versus-tumour response. The intensity of these changes in a recurrent tumour reflects an immunological hypersensitivity reaction. The pathogenetic and differential diagnostic aspects of epithelioid granulomas of the female breast in chronic granulomatous mastitis, panniculitis, foreign body reaction, rare infections, and in therapeutically induced sarcoidosis are described and discussed.
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