Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC) is characterized by recurrent chromosomal translocations resulting in fusions of the nuclear receptor gene NOR1 (also known as CHN or TEC) to various N-terminal partners, including EWS and TAF2N (or RBP56). Significant structural homology of EWS or TAF2N to TLS (or FUS) prompted us to investigate a potential novel gene fusion of NOR1 to TLS in EMCs without detectable known NOR1 fusions. In one of the EMCs examined, our reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction using NOR1 and TLS primers unexpectedly amplified a cDNA sequence derived not from a TLS/NOR1 fusion but from a TFG/NOR1 fusion, a hitherto undescribed fusion type in EMC, probably a result of incidental misannealing by the TLS primer, which has a sequence partially identical to TFG. Encoding a protein with a putative coiled-coil structure, TFG previously was identified by a homology search in the Expressed Sequence Tag Database as having an SPYGQ-rich region similar to the N-terminal parts of EWS and TLS. TFG/NOR1 fusion appears to play an oncogenic role equivalent to those of other NOR1 fusions in EMC.
Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.