Clinicopathologic study of E-cadherin/beta-catenin complex, and topoisomerase-II in a series of 71 liposarcoma cases
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WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY
RESEARCH
Open Access
Clinicopathologic study of E-cadherin/betacatenin complex, and topoisomerase-II in a series of 71 liposarcoma cases Pinelopi Gogou1, Emilios Pakos1, Anna Batistatou2, Ioannis Panelos2, Evangelos Briasoulis4, Dimitrios Stefanou2, Nikoforos Apostolikas3 and Periclis Tsekeris1,4*
Abstract Background: To investigate the expression of E-cadherin, beta-catenin and topoisomerase-II alpha and examine their clinical relevance in liposarcomas. Materials and methods: The expression of E-cadherin, beta-catenin and topoisomerase II alpha was examined immunohistochemically on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 71 patients who underwent surgical treatment for liposarcomas of the extremities or the retroperitoneum in two major cancer reference centres between 1990 and 2000. Detailed medical notes were available for all patients who were followed for median 82 months (range 5 to 215 months). Obtained expression data were weighted against clinical and pathology parameters of clinical relevance. Results: Patients were mostly male (59%), median age was 56 years for the liposarcomas of the extremities and 60 years for the retroperitoneal liposarcomas. The tumours were of diverse histology, grade and size (median diameters 7 and 17 cm for tumours of the extremities and retroperitoneum respectively). Expression of b-catenin protein was weakly detected in 15 cases (21.1%). Similarly weak expression of topoisomerase II-alpha was detected in 14 (19.7%) cases of which only two had more than 20% of tumor cells stained positive. E-cadherin was not detected in the studied cohort of liposarcomas. We did not detect associations between the expression of the above proteins by liposarcoma cells and clinical outcome. Conclusions: Liposarcomas do not express E-cadherin, which matches the absence of epithelioid differentiation in this sarcoma subtype, and have low topoisomerase II-alpha expression, which justifies to some extend their resistance to anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Keywords: liposarcomas, E-cadherin, b-catenin, topoisomerase II alpha, prognosis
Background Liposarcomas are the most common subtype of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) accounting for approximately 20% of all STS in adults [1,2]. The World Health Organization Committee classifies them in 5 subtypes according to the degree of differentiation [3]. Despite the fact that each histological subtype has a different clinical behavior and disease outcome, treatment is common for all liposarcoma subtypes and consists of wide resection of the * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, University Ioannina, Medical School, Stavrou Niarhou Av 1., 45500 Ioannina, Greece Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
tumor followed by additional radiotherapy and occasionally chemotherapy [4,5]. Although genetic tests have emerged in liposarcomas, still limited data exist regarding molecular profiling of these common STS subtypes [6]. The expression of E-cadherin
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