Ezrin in osteosarcoma: Comparison between conventional high-grade and central low-grade osteosarcoma

Abstract

Ezrin is a cytoskeleton linker protein that is actively involved in the regulation of growth and metastatic capacity of cancer cells. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a significant correlation exists between high ezrin expression levels and the poor outcome of pediatric osteosarcoma patients. The expression of ezrin was compared in conventional high-grade and central low-grade osteosarcoma lesions to investigate the role of ezrin overexpression in the metastasis of osteosarcoma. We compared the expression levels of the ezrin protein in 32 cases of high-grade osteosarcomas and 21 cases of low-grade osteosarcomas using immunohistochemistry. Ezrin protein expression levels were examined in three different human osteosarcoma cell lines by Western blotting. In addition, the mRNA expression levels of ezrin in these osteosarcoma cell lines and control fibroblasts were evaluated by real-time quantitative PCR. Ezrin immunoreactivity was present in 43.7% of high-grade osteosarcoma specimens. All low-grade osteosarcomas were negative for ezrin. The expression of ezrin was detected by Western blotting in all three osteosarcoma cell lines. The tested osteosarcoma cell lines showed marked amplification of ezrin mRNA compared to control cells. Taken together, ezrin appears to play a role in the progression of tumors, such as the metastasis of osteosarcoma. However, further data are needed before ezrin can be considered in clinical decision-making about osteosarcoma patients.