Cancer‐testis antigens PRAME and NY‐ESO‐1 correlate with tumour grade and poor prognosis in myxoid liposarcoma

Myxoid liposarcoma is the second most common liposarcoma. Although myxoid liposarcoma is relatively chemosensitive and thus a good candidate for chemotherapy, cases with relapsed or metastatic disease still have poor outcome. Here, we performed a gene microarray analysis to compare the gene expression profiles in six clinical myxoid liposarcoma samples and three normal adipose tissue samples, and to identify molecular biomarkers that would be useful as diagnostic markers or treatment targets in myxoid liposarcoma. This showed that the cancer‐testis antigen PRAME was up‐regulated in myxoid liposarcoma. We then performed immunohistochemical, western blotting and real‐time polymerase chain reaction analyses to quantify the expression of PRAME and another cancer‐testis antigen, NY‐ESO‐1, in clinical samples of myxoid liposarcoma (n = 93), dedifferentiated (n = 46), well‐differentiated (n = 32) and pleomorphic liposarcomas (n = 14). Immunohistochemically, positivity for PRAME and NY‐ESO‐1 was observed in 84/93 (90%) and 83/93 (89%) of the myxoid liposarcomas, and in 20/46 (43%) and 3/46 (7%) of the dedifferentiated, 3/32 (9%) and 1/32 (3%) of the well‐differentiated and 7/14 (50%) and 3/21 (21%) of the pleomorphic liposarcomas, respectively. High immunohistochemical expression of PRAME and/or NY‐ESO‐1 was significantly correlated with tumour diameter, the existence of tumour necrosis, a round‐cell component of >5%, higher histological grade and advanced clinical stage. High PRAME and NY‐ESO‐1 expression correlated significantly with poor prognosis in a univariate analysis. The myxoid liposarcomas showed significantly higher protein and mRNA expression levels of PRAME and NY‐ESO‐1 (CTAG1B) than the other liposarcomas. In conclusion, PRAME and NY‐ESO‐1 (CTAG1B) were expressed in the vast majority of myxoid liposarcomas, and their high‐level expression correlated with tumour grade and poor prognosis. Our results support the potential use of PRAME and NY‐ESO‐1 as ancillary parameters for differential diagnosis and as prognostic biomarkers, and indicate that the development of immunotherapy against these cancer‐testis antigens in myxoid liposarcoma would be warranted

Phosphorylation of STAT3 in Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma Is Correlated with a Favorable Prognosis

&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Objective:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; The Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway plays a role in various biological processes. Phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) functions as a transcriptional factor, and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) is a potential inhibitor of STAT3. Here, we analyzed the status of the JAK-STAT pathway in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS). &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Methods:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; We performed immunohistochemistry in 79 samples of UPS and Western blotting in 10 frozen samples. We also examined alterations in protein expression in the JAK-STAT pathway after the inhibition of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) or extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-Erk) in vitro. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Results:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Immunohistochemically, p-STAT3 and SOCS3 were positive in 59.7 and 55.8%, respectively. Positivity for p-STAT3 was significantly correlated with a better prognosis (p = 0.0006) and negatively with SOCS3 expression (p = 0.0223). Positivity for SOCS3 was significantly correlated with a worse prognosis (p = 0.0001). Western blotting analysis revealed that p-STAT3 expression was lower in tumor than in normal tissue. In vitro results demonstrated that there was no detectable change in the expression of p-STAT3 regardless of the status of p-Akt or p-Erk. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; p-STAT3 may be a useful prognostic factor for UPS.</jats:p

Additional file 1: of Prognostic significance of FOXM1 expression and antitumor effect of FOXM1 inhibition in synovial sarcomas

SS cell lines treated with 1 ÎźM thiostrepton for 48 h. The real-time quantitative PCR showed a reduction of FOXM1 transcript. (PPTX 73 kb