Abstract
Increasing evidences have demonstrated that B7-H4 is associated with tumor development and prognosis. However, the clinical significance of B7-H4 expression in human osteosarcoma (OS) remains unclear. The aim of present study was to examine the B7-H4 expression and to explore its contribution in OS. B7-H4 expression in OS tissues was examined by immunohistochemistry. Soluble B7-H4 (sB7-H4) levels in blood were examined by ELISA. The association of B7-H4 expression with clinicopathological factors or prognosis was statistically analyzed. Our findings demonstrated that B7-H4 expression in OS tissues was significantly higher than those in paired normal bone tissues (P < 0.001). sB7-H4 level in OS serum samples was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (P = 0.005). High B7-H4 expression in tissues and sB7-H4 level were both correlated with advanced tumor stage (P < 0.001, P = 0.017, resp.) and distant metastasis (P = 0.034, P = 0.021, resp.). Additionally, high B7-H4 expression or serum sB7-H4 levels were significantly related to poor overall survival (P = 0.028, P = 0.005, resp.). B7-H4 in tissues and serum samples were an independent factor for affecting the survival time of OS patients (P = 0.004, P = 0.041, resp.). Collectively, our data suggest that the evaluation of B7-H4 expression in tissues and blood is a useful tool for predicting the progression of osteosarcoma and prognosis.
Highlights
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone tumor with high incidence in children and adolescents, accounting for 20–35% of all malignant primary bone tumors [1]
B7-H4 was high expressed in 70.19% (73/104) of OS tissues, which was significantly higher than the 14.4% (15/104) in normal bone tissues (P < 0.001) (Table 1)
One study reported that B7-H3, another member of B7 family molecules, was overexpressed in patients with OS and associated with tumor aggressiveness and metastasis [22], suggesting that costimulatory molecules play an important role in OS progression
Summary
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone tumor with high incidence in children and adolescents, accounting for 20–35% of all malignant primary bone tumors [1]. It was identified in 2003 by searching the NCBI database for sequences containing B7 extracellular Ig domains, followed by screening a placenta cDNA library [5]
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