Abstract
BackgroundOsteopontin (OPN) overexpression is correlated with a poor prognosis for tumor patients. However, only a few studies investigated the prognostic impact of expression of OPN in soft tissue sarcomas (STS) yet.MethodsThis study is based on tumor and serum samples from 93 adult STS patients. We investigated OPN protein levels in serum (n = 86) and tumor tissue (n = 80) by ELISA and OPN mRNA levels in tumor tissue (n = 68) by quantitative real-time PCR.ResultsNo correlation was found between OPN levels in serum and tumor tissue. Moreover, an elevated OPN protein level in the serum was significantly associated with clinical parameters such as higher stage (p = 0.004), higher grade (p = 0.003), subtype (p = 0.002) and larger tumor size (p = 0.03). OPN protein levels in the tumor tissue were associated with higher stage (p = 0.06), higher grade (p = 0.003), subtype (p = 0.07) and an increased rate of relapse (p = 0.02). In addition, using a Cox's proportional hazards regression model, we found that an elevated OPN protein level in the serum and tumor tissue extracts is a significant negative prognostic factor for patients with STS. The relative risks of tumor-related death were 2.2 (p < 0.05) and 3.7 (p = 0.01), respectively.ConclusionOur data suggest OPN protein in serum as well as in tumor tissue extracts is an important prognostic factor for soft tissue sarcoma patients.
Highlights
Osteopontin (OPN) overexpression is correlated with a poor prognosis for tumor patients
There was no correlation between OPN mRNA and OPN protein levels of tumors (n = 66; p = 0.4), serum and tumor OPN protein levels (n = 73; p = 0.9) or tumor OPN mRNA and serum OPN protein levels (n = 62; p = 0.7)
Osteopontin levels and survival analyses In subgroups split at the median serum or tumor OPN protein level, there was no significant difference in overall survival
Summary
Osteopontin (OPN) overexpression is correlated with a poor prognosis for tumor patients. Only a few studies investigated the prognostic impact of expression of OPN in soft tissue sarcomas (STS) yet. Elevated serum or plasma levels of OPN have been detected in a variety of human cancers, which has been correlated with tumor progression and metastasis [2,3,4]. Previous studies suggest that high tumor OPN mRNA expression correlates with an unfavorable prognosis [14,15,16,17,18]. In primary sarcomas of the pulmonary artery, OPN protein could be detected in tumor cells and in macrophages and it is potentially involved in tumor progression and metastasis [21]. To characterize the role of OPN in soft tissue sarcoma, we correlated OPN levels with clinical parameters and prognosis
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