Chordomas: A review with emphasis on their pathophysiology, pathology, molecular biology, and genetics

Chordomas are uncommon, bone, axial, or (rarely) extra-axial tumors that are malignant and frequently recur but less commonly metastasize. They usually affect adults, with a very small proportion being pediatric tumors. For children, such tumors present a different biology, since they are more common as scull rather than sacral tumors, with aggressive histological features, including a loss of SMARCB1/INI1 and a dismal prognosis. Histologically, chordomas, believed to derive from notochordal tissue, characteristically show physaliphorous cells in a myxoid or chondroid matrix. Dedifferentiated and poorly differentiated forms can be observed. Moreover, a grading scale for chordomas has been proposed. Cytokeratin, EMA, S100, and brachyury are expressed by most chordomas. These are chemo-resistant tumors, for which surgical resection and/or radiotherapy are the treatments of choice. In this review, the histological, immunohistochemical, molecular, and clinical data of chordomas are discussed.