title: Cytoplasmic maspin expression predicts poor prognosis of patients with soft tissue sarcomas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maspin is a 42 kDa protein known to act as a tumor suppressor. Although its function has not been fully elucidated, numerous reports have investigated the prognostic impact of maspin in patients with several types of cancer. However, there have been no reports on the association between maspin expression and the prognosis of patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS). The aim of this study was thus to explore the association of maspin expression with the prognosis of patients with STS.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred and eight paraffin-embedded STS tissue samples were immunohistochemically analyzed using antibodies for maspin and Ki-67 antigen. The patients were followed up for 1 to 300 months (median: 33 months) and the prognostic value was evaluated by log-rank test and Cox's regression hazard model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cytoplasmic maspin expression was observed in 48.1% of specimens, and was significantly correlated with a higher FNCLCC grade (P = 0.002) and the presence of distant metastases (P = 0.001), and those with cytoplasmic maspin expression had both shorter disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) by log-rank test (P <0.001, P = 0.001, respectively). By Cox's multivariate analysis, the presence of distant metastases was the only prognostic factor for DFS and OS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first report to reveal an association between maspin expression and the prognosis of patients with STS. Although further studies with a larger series of patients and a longer follow-up period will be needed, cytoplasmic maspin expression could be an indicator of unfavorable prognosis in patients with STS.
  The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/13000_2014_205.
authors.forename: Chikako
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Tatsushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shiomi
authors.forename: Kanae
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nosaka
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osaki
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Minamizaki
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Teshima
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Umekita
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015843:Serpins / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; C085344:SERPIN-B5; D015843:Serpins