title: Expression of ezrin, Bcl-2, and Ki-67 in chondrosarcomas.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the expression of ezrin, a membrane-cytoskeleton linker and regulator of cellular signaling, is associated with clinical features of chondrosarcoma. For this purpose, we studied the expression of ezrin in 54 chondrosarcomas by immunohistochemistry and correlated the expression with other tumor characteristics, markers of proliferation, apoptosis and with clinical parameters. The intensity of ezrin staining increased with the histologic grade, and a significant positive association existed between the tumor grade and ezrin expression (p = 0.0475). In addition, there was a positive correlation between the expression of ezrin and Bcl-2, an anti-apoptotic protein (r = 0.83, p < 0.0001), as well as between ezrin expression and increased proliferation as measured by Ki-67 index (r = 0.70, p < 0.0001). The positive correlation of ezrin expression with Bcl-2 and Ki-67 as well as with tumor grade suggests that an aggressive behavior of chondrosarcoma may be related to activation of ezrin and that ezrin inhibitors could provide a much needed adjuvant therapy in chondrosarcomas. In conclusion, our results indicate that high ezrin expression correlates with aggressive features of chondrosarcomas. Further analyses on the pathways downstream of ezrin are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland. mirsod@utu.fi
authors.forename: Mirva
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Söderström
authors.forename: Tuire
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Palokangas
authors.forename: Tero
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vahlberg
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Böhling
authors.forename: Hannu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aro
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Carpen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D002813:Chondrosarcoma / Q000276:immunology*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000276:immunology; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D055815:Young Adult; D000099149:Ezrin
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D000099149:Ezrin