Ephrin A4 expression in osteosarcoma, impact on prognosis, and patient outcome.

Background : Ephrin A4 is one of the ephrin ligand molecules belonging to the tyrosine kinases receptor family. It was originally identified in a T-lymphoma cell line and seen to be expressed in human adult tissue as well as several tumor types. In our previous study, we showed the unique pattern of ephrin A4 immunohistochemical staining, which differed according to the type of examined bone specimens (normal bone, primary, and metastatic osteosarcoma lesions). The aim of the present study is to evaluate the prognostic impact of ephrin A4 expression in a group of primary osteosarcoma patients. Materials and Methods : Ephrin A4 immunohistochemical expression was carried out on 47 primary osteosarcoma cases. Results : Ephrin A4 was expressed in 82.9% of osteosarcoma cases with cytoplasmic localization in 58.9% of positive cases. The cytoplasmic pattern was significantly associated with aggressive histopathological types of osteosarcoma (P = 0.02), advanced stage (P = 0.04), the presence of metastasis (P = 0.03), inferior response to neoadjuvent chemotherapy (P = 0.04), and tended to be associated with a shorter event-free survival (P = 0.09). Conclusions : The cytoplasmic pattern of ephrin A4 could identify a subgroup of primary osteosarcoma patients with a high liability for progression, poor prognosis, and inferior response to chemotherapy.

Prognostic and predictive value of c-erbB2 overexpression in osteogenic sarcoma.

BACKGROUND: Osteogenic sarcoma (OS) is a highly malignant tumor of the bone. There are few reports in the literature regarding determination of c-erb B-2 (HER-2/neu) expression in cases of OS and also the results are quite variable. AIM: The present study was undertaken to correlate the expression of c-erbB2 with the survival of patients of OS. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective study of cases of OS, in which the expression of c-erbB-2 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) was studied and correlated with the survival rate of the patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Out of a total of 49 cases, proper follow up data in the form of total and disease free survival was available in only 20 cases. IHC for c-erb-B2 was carried out in these 20 cases. RESULTS: The staining pattern was as follows: no staining in 3 cases, 1 + in 5 cases, 2 + in 3 cases, 3 + in 3 cases and 4 + cytoplasmic positivity in 6 cases. Statistical analysis: Spearman rank correlation test was used to correlate the intensity of cytoplasmic staining of c-erbB-2 with survival rate of the patients, response to chemotherapy and metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: Previous studies have shown that c-erbB-2/HER-2 is an independent prognostic factor in osteogenic sarcoma, but in the present study, its expression was not seen to be correlating with survival rate of the patients. Therefore, further studies are needed to reach a consensus regarding the reliability of c-erbB-2 as an independent prognostic factor in OS.

Relationship between the expression of MTA-1 gene and the metastasis and invasion in human osteosarcoma / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

To compare the expression level of metastasis associated-1 (MTA1) gene in high and low metastatic human osteosarcoma cell lines and examine the relationship of MTA1 expression and the metastasis potentiality of osteosarcoma cells, the expression of MTA1 in MG-63 osteosarcoma cell lines with high and low metastasis potential was detected by semiquantitative TR-PCR. Boyden chamber invasion assay was used to evaluate the invasive capacity in vitro in two osteosarcoma cell lines. The low metastasis MG-63 cells were transfected with MTA1 full-length cDNA expression plasmid by lipofectamine and the changes of MTA1 expression and in vitro invasion potential were examined after the transfection. Our results showed that MG63 cell line with high metastasis potential expressed significantly higher MTA1 than that of MG63 cells with low metastasis as reavealed by RT-PCR. The invasion potential of low metastasis MG63 cell line was increased after MTA1 gene transfection. It is concluded that there may be a relationship between MTA 1 and invasive potentiality of human osteosarcoma cells, and the mechanism of MTA1 in osteosarcoma metastasis and its possible role in associated gene therapy deserve further study.

Sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma with osteosarcomatous differentiation--a case report.

A rare case of sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with predominantly osteosarcomatous differentiation occurring in a 36-year-old male is reported. Immunohistochemistry excluded the possibility of primary osteosarcoma of the kidney.