Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ezrin immunohistochemical expression in cartilaginous tumours: a useful tool for differential diagnosis between chondroblastic osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Virchows Archiv Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ezrin is a cytoskeleton linker protein that is actively involved in the metastatic process of cancer cells. We have recently reported that ezrin expression in conventional osteosarcoma was an independent prognostic factor for event-free survival and overall survival. In this work, ezrin expression was found in all histological subtypes. Especially cartilaginous areas in chondroblastic osteosarcomas were immunopositive for ezrin. We wanted to know if ezrin could be a useful diagnostic marker in bone pathology. We have searched for ezrin expression in 208 cartilaginous tumours by immunohistochemistry and in 16 chondroblastic osteosarcomas. All conventional chondrosarcomas, whatever their grade, were negative, while ten of 16 chondroblastic osteosarcomas were positive. In contrast, dedifferentiated (five of 14) and mesenchymal chondrosarcomas (five of ten) showed ezrin positivity. Some chondroblastomas and more rarely chondromyxoid fibromas also exhibited ezrin expression. These data suggest that ezrin is a useful immunohistochemical marker for differential diagnosis between chondroblastic osteosarcomas and conventional chondrosarcomas with a specificity of 100%. Ezrin expression in dedifferentiated and mesenchymal chondrosarcomas which are aggressive neoplasms resistant to conventional treatment means that ezrin could be a therapeutic target. Ezrin expression in chondroblastomas is more intriguing and requires further study to assess prognostic value.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Khanna C, Khan J, Nguyen P et al (2001) Metastasis-associated differences in gene expression in a murine model of osteosarcoma. Cancer Res 61:3750–3759

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Krishnan K, Bruce B, Hewitt S et al (2006) Ezrin mediates growth and survival in Ewing’s sarcoma through the AKT/mTOR, but not the MAPK, signaling pathway. Clin Exp Metastasis 23:227–236

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Weng WH, Ahlen J, Astrom K et al (2005) Prognostic impact of immunohistochemical expression of ezrin in highly malignant soft tissue sarcomas. Clin Cancer Res 11:6198–6204

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mangeat P, Roy C, Martin M (1999) ERM proteins in cell adhesion and membrane dynamics. Trends Cell Biol 9:187–192

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Vaheri A, Carpen O, Heiska L et al (1997) The ezrin protein family: membrane–cytoskeleton interactions and disease associations. Curr Opin Cell Biol 9:659–666

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Khanna C, Wan X, Bose S et al (2004) The membrane–cytoskeleton linker ezrin is necessary for osteosarcoma metastasis. Nat Med 10:182–186

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Park HR, Jung WW, Bacchini P et al (2006) Ezrin in osteosarcoma: comparison between conventional high-grade and central low-grade osteosarcoma. Pathol Res Pract 202:509–515

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Salas S, Bartoli C, Deville JL et al (2007) Ezrin and alpha-smooth muscle actin are immunohistochemical prognostic markers in conventional osteosarcomas. Virchows Arch 451:999–1007

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ogino W, Takeshima Y, Mori T et al (2007) High level of ezrin mRNA expression in an osteosarcoma biopsy sample with lung metastasis. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 29:435–439

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ferrari S, Zanella L, Alberghini M et al (2008) Prognostic significance of immunohistochemical expression of ezrin in non-metastatic high-grade osteosarcoma. Pediatr Blood Cancer 50:752–756

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Dickey ID, Rose PS, Fuchs B et al (2004) Dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma: the role of chemotherapy with updated outcomes. J Bone Jt Surg 86-A:2412–2418

    Google Scholar 

  12. Staals EL, Bacchini P, Bertoni F (2006) Dedifferentiated central chondrosarcoma. Cancer 106:2682–2691

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Brown RE (2004) Morphoproteomic portrait of the mTOR pathway in mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. Ann Clin Lab Sci 34:397–399

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Wan X, Mendoza A, Khanna C et al (2005) Rapamycin inhibits ezrin-mediated metastatic behavior in a murine model of osteosarcoma. Cancer Res 65:2406–2411

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Chow LTC, Lin J, Kumta SM et al (1996) Chondromyxoid fibroma-like osteosarcoma: a distinct variant of low-grade osteosarcoma. Histopathology 29:429–436

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Klein MJ, Siegal GP (2006) Osteosarcoma. Anatomic and histologic variants. Am J Clin Pathol 125:555–581

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Schajowicz F, de Prospero JD, Cosentino E (1990) Case report 641: chondroblastoma-like osteosarcoma. Skelet Radiol 19:603–603

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Soder S, Oliveira AM, Inwards CY et al (2006) Type II collagen, but not aggrecan expression, distinguishes clear cell chondrosarcoma and chondroblastoma. Pathology 38:35–38

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Aigner T, Loos S, Inwards C et al (1999) Chondroblastoma is an osteoid-forming, but not cartilage-forming neoplasm. J Pathol 189:463–469

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. van der Geest IC, van Noort MP, Schreuder HW et al (2007) The cryosurgical treatment of chondroblastoma of bone: long-term oncologic and functional results. J Surg Oncol 96:230–234

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Hassan S, Ferrario C, Mamo A et al (2008) Tissue microarrays: emerging standard for biomarker validation. Curr Opin Biotechnol 19:19–25

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to P. Morando and Arlette Calisti for technical assistance. This work was supported by Institutional grants, by the “Appel d’offre APHM 2005” and by the Philippe Daher foundation.

Disclosure of conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service d’Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital la Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France

    Sébastien Salas, Carla Fernandez & Corinne Bouvier

  2. Service d’Oncologie Médicale Adulte, Hôpital la Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France

    Sébastien Salas

  3. Service d’Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital Trousseau, CHRU, 37044, Tours cedex 9, France

    Gonzague de Pinieux

  4. Service d’Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital Rangueil, av du Pr Poulhès, 31403, Toulouse, France

    Anne Gomez-Brouchet

  5. Service d’Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital Cochin, 27 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75679, Paris cedex 14, France

    Frédérique Larrousserie

  6. Pôle Pathologie, CHRU, av Oscar lambret, 59037, Lille, France

    Xavier Leroy & Sébastien Aubert

  7. Département d’Anatomie et de Cytologie Pathologique, centre Léon Bérard, 28 rue Laennec, 69373, Lyon Cedex 8, France

    Anne-Valérie Decouvelaere

  8. Service de Santé Publique et d’Information médicale, Hôpital la Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, rue Saint Pierre, 13385, Marseille cedex 5, France

    Roch Giorgi

  9. LERTIM, EA 3283, Aix-Marseille Université, Faculté de Médecine, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille Cedex, France

    Roch Giorgi

  10. UMR 911, Equipe IV : Angiogénèse, invasion et microenvironnement tumoral, Faculté de Médecine Timone, 27, Bd Jean Moulin, 13005, Marseilles, France

    Corinne Bouvier

Authors
  1. Sébastien Salas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gonzague de Pinieux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Anne Gomez-Brouchet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Frédérique Larrousserie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Xavier Leroy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sébastien Aubert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Anne-Valérie Decouvelaere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Roch Giorgi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Carla Fernandez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Corinne Bouvier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corinne Bouvier.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Salas, S., de Pinieux, G., Gomez-Brouchet, A. et al. Ezrin immunohistochemical expression in cartilaginous tumours: a useful tool for differential diagnosis between chondroblastic osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma. Virchows Arch 454, 81–87 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-008-0692-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-008-0692-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation