Ezrin and alpha-smooth muscle actin are immunohistochemical prognostic markers in conventional osteosarcomas

Virchows Arch. 2007 Dec;451(6):999-1007. doi: 10.1007/s00428-007-0474-8. Epub 2007 Sep 5.

Abstract

Ezrin is a cytoskeleton linker protein that is actively involved in the metastatic process of cancer cells. We have searched for a prognostic value of ezrin and some of its partners: alpha-smooth muscle actin and CD44H in 37 patients with an osteosarcoma. Automate immunohistochemistry (IHC) with anti-ezrin, alpha-smooth muscle actin and CD44H antibodies was performed in 66 specimens: 37 biopsies before chemotherapy, 16 resected tumours of "poor" responders and 13 metastases. The messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of ezrin of 13 frozen biopsies and 4 metastases were evaluated by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). All results were correlated to the following clinical data. Ezrin expression by IHC was found in 62% of 37 biopsies in the different histological subtypes. A good correlation was found between positive or negative samples by IHC and mRNA levels. Ezrin expression was recorded in 84.5% of metastastic samples. The mean expression of ezrin was higher in metastases than biopsies (p = 0.024). In multivariate analysis, ezrin was an independent prognostic marker for event-free survival and overall survival (OS) with p < 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively, and alpha-smooth muscle actin for OS only (p = 0.024). Our findings suggest that ezrin and alpha-smooth muscle actin are predictive IHC prognostic markers for patients with an osteosarcoma.

MeSH terms

  • Actins / genetics
  • Actins / metabolism*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism
  • Bone Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Bone Neoplasms / mortality
  • Bone Neoplasms / pathology
  • Bone Neoplasms / therapy
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Female
  • France / epidemiology
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Muscle, Smooth / metabolism
  • Neoplasm Metastasis / pathology
  • Osteosarcoma / metabolism*
  • Osteosarcoma / mortality
  • Osteosarcoma / secondary
  • Osteosarcoma / therapy
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Survival Rate

Substances

  • Actins
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • RNA, Messenger
  • ezrin