Breast metastasis in osteosarcoma

A young girl with a history of chondroblastic osteosarcoma of the tibia developed a pulmonary metastasis which was treated by metastasectomy, chemotherapy and lung irradiation. Three years later, at the age of 15, she developed a breast mass which was excised and which proved to be a poorly differentiated sarcoma. This was almost certainly a metastasis rather than a radiation-induced second primary tumour, in view of the short interval since radiotherapy. The ultrasonographic features of this lesion are presented here and the differential diagnosis is discussed in this context.     

The antineoplastic antibiotic taurolidine promotes lung and liver metastasis in two syngeneic osteosarcoma mouse models and exhibits severe liver toxicity

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most frequent primary bone tumor. Despite multiagent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, patients with metastatic disease have a poor prognosis. Moreover, currently used chemotherapeutics have severe toxic side effects. Thus, novel agents with improved antimetastatic activity and reduced toxicity are needed. Taurolidine, a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, has recently been shown to have antineoplastic properties against a variety of tumors and low systemic toxicity. Consequently, we investigated in our study the antineoplastic potential of taurolidine against OS in two different mouse models. Although both OS cell lines, K7M2 and LM8, were sensitive for the compound in vitro, intraperitoneal application of taurolidine failed to inhibit primary tumor growth. Moreover, it enhanced the metastatic load in both models 1.7- to 20-fold and caused severe liver deformations and up to 40% mortality. Thus, systemic toxicity was further investigated in tumor-free mice histologically, by electron microscopy and by measurements of representative liver enzymes. Taurolidine dose-dependent fibrous thickening of the liver capsule and adhesions and atrophies of the liver lobes were comparable in healthy and tumor-bearing mice. Liver toxicity was further indicated by up to eightfold elevated levels of the liver enzymes alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase and GLDH in the circulation. Ultrastructural analysis of affected liver tissue showed swollen mitochondria with cristolysis and numerous lipid vacuoles in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. The findings of our study question the applicability of taurolidine for OS treatment and may suggest the need for caution regarding the widespread clinical use of taurolidine as an antineoplastic agent.     

Overexpression of cadherins suppresses pulmonary metastasis of osteosarcoma in vivo

Osteosarcoma by nature shows aggressive pulmonary metastasis; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We previously showed that N-cadherin and cadherin-11 (OB-cadherin), which are highly expressed in normal osteoblasts, are anomalously expressed in human osteosarcoma (Kashima et al., Am J Pathol 1999;155:1549-55). In the present study, we examined the role of cadherins in osteosarcoma metastasis using the mouse osteosarcoma cell line Dunn and its highly metastatic subline LM8. Oligonucleotide array and RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that Dunn and LM8 cells did not express appreciable levels of several members of the cadherin family, and Western blot analysis confirmed that Dunn and LM8 cells did not express P-cadherin, E-cadherin, N-cadherin or cadherin-11 protein. We therefore investigated the functional consequences of cadherin overexpression on cell migration and in vivo metastatic potential of LM8 cells. Several LM8 clones were isolated which expressed exogenous N-cadherin and cadherin-11 localized to the cell membrane and able to bind to beta-catenin. Overexpression of N-cadherin or cadherin-11 in LM8 cells did not affect cell proliferation but caused an inhibitory effect on cell migration in vitro. In vivo analysis showed that N-cadherin- and cadherin-11-overexpressing cells exhibited a marked reduction in their ability to form pulmonary metastases, with significant decreases in lung weight and the number and weight of metastatic lesions, as well as the size and weight of primary lesions at the s.c.-inoculated site. These observations demonstrate that disruption of N-cadherin- and cadherin-11-mediated cell-cell adhesion is critical in the pulmonary metastasis of osteosarcoma.     

STIM1在骨肉瘤细胞增殖和转移中的作用及机制研究

目的:探究STIM1对骨肉瘤细胞143B增殖和转移的作用及其具体机制研究.方法:使用shRNA构建STIM1敲减的143B稳转细胞株;通过实时荧光定量PCR技术和Western Blot技术检测细胞敲减效率,通过克隆形成实验和CCK-8检测STIM1对骨肉瘤细胞143B增殖的影响;通过Transwell实验观察STIM...     

Late peritoneal metastasis in a patient with osteosarcoma

A 19-year-old man with a high-grade osteosarcoma of the femur, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy suffered from lung metastases 15 months after diagnosis. They were resected. Thirteen months later, he had vague abdominal complaints which, after analysis, proved to be caused by peritoneal metastasis. A review of the literature, possible physiopathological mechanisms of increased occurrence of unusual metastases and the role of bone scintigraphy in the follow-up of patients with osteosarcoma are discussed.     

Registration accuracy and image quality of time averaged mid-position CT scans for liver SBRT

Purpose and background

The purpose was to validate the accuracy of motion models derived from deformable registration from four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) and breath-hold contrast enhanced computed tomography (BHCCT) scans for liver SBRT. Additionally, the image quality of the time averaged mid-position (MidP) CT constructed using the detected motion model was assessed.

Materials and methods

4DCT and BHCCT liver scans of 11 patients were acquired with 1 or 2 fiducial markers. Using parametric sampling the markers were digitally removed. Phase-based optical flow was used to register the 4D frames and the BHCCT, and create MidP data. We compared the deformable registration of the markerless scans with the actual displacement of the markers to assess registration accuracy. The noise levels of the MidP scans were compared to those of the 4DCT and BHCCT data.

Results

We found an average misregistration of 1.8 mm (±0.5 mm). The constructed MidPCT scan contained around three times less noise than the original 4D scan. The residual error between the MidPCT and the BHCCT was 3.0 mm (±0.9 mm).

Conclusions

High precision deformable image registration of 4DCT and BHCCT liver cancer patients was achieved and used to create motion compensated MidPCT scans, with increased contrast-to-noise (CNR) levels. This improved visualisation of tumours and anatomy, facilitates radiotherapy treatment planning.     

MTA1基因表达与人骨肉瘤细胞浸润和转移的关系

背景与目的:骨肉瘤具有很高的转移特性,以肺转移多见。尽管能成功控制原发瘤,但5年内仍然有超过30%的患者死于肺转移。肿瘤转移相关基因(MTA1)是新近发现的一个肿瘤转移候选基因,其表达增高与乳腺癌及胃癌、结直肠癌的侵袭转移能力成正相关。MTA1在骨肉瘤中的表达国内外尚未见相关研究报道,通过比较MTA1基因在人骨肉瘤细胞高低转移株的表达水平,探讨MTA1表达与骨肉瘤细胞浸润和转移潜能的相关性。方法:采用半定量逆转录聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)检测MG-63骨肉瘤细胞高低转移株MTA1的表达情况,用Boyden小室体外侵袭实验检测两株MG-63细胞的体外侵袭力;用脂质体介导的MTA1基因转染MG-63低转移株细胞,通过RT-PCR检测MTA1的表达;Boyden小室体外侵袭实验检测转染前后细胞侵袭力的变化。结果:RT-PCR结果显示MTA1在MG-63低转移细胞株中表达水平低(1.32),在高转移细胞株中表达水平高(6.27)(P<0.05);Boyden小室体外侵袭实验显示MG-63高转移株细胞体外侵袭力强,其穿膜细胞相对百分率为(46.3±2.4)%,低转移株细胞体外侵袭力较弱,其穿膜细胞相对百分率(12.6±1.1)%,两者差异有显著性(P<0.05);转染MTA1基因后,低转移细胞株转移潜能较未转染细胞明显增高。结论:MTA1与人骨肉瘤细胞转移潜能有密切关系,MTA1对肿瘤转移的作用机制以及作为干预肿瘤转移靶基因的可能性值得进一步探讨。     

Genetic and clonal dissection of osteosarcoma progression and lung metastasis

Osteosarcoma is a primary malignant bone tumor that has a high potential to metastasize to lungs. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying the dissemination of OS cancer cells to lungs. We performed whole exome sequencing of 13 OS primary tumors, with matched lung metastases and normal tissues. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that lung metastatic tumors often harbor clones that are nonexistent or rare in the matched primary OS tumors. Spatially and temporally separated lung metastases were from parallel seeding events with a polyphyletic pattern. Loss of TP53 or RB1 is among the early events during OS tumorigenesis, while loss of PTEN is involved at the later stages associated with lung metastases. Finally, KEAP1 was identified as a novel biomarker for increased metastatic risk. Patients whose primary tumors harbored KEAP1 amplification have significantly poorer lung‐metastasis free survival. This finding was validated in two independent datasets. Further, in vitro experiments exhibited that KEAP1 depletion suppressed the invasion of OS cells. Our findings uncover the patterns of clonal evolution during OS progression and highlight KEAP1 as a novel candidate associated with the risk of lung metastasis in OS patients.     

MTA1基因表达与人骨肉瘤细胞浸润和转移的关系

Objective： To compare the expression level of metastasis associated-1 （MTA1） in the higher and lower metastasis sublines of human osteosarcoma cells （MG63）, and to investigate the relationship between the expression level of MTA1-EGFP and in vitro invasion and metastasis of human osteosarcoma cells. Methods： The expression level of MTA1 in two sublines of MG63 cells was detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, and cell invasion assay and cell proliferation assay were used to evaluate the invasive capacity in vitro in two sublines. The lower metastasis line of MG-63 cells were transfected with MTA1-EGFP full-length cDNA expression plasmid by lipofectamine. The changes of the MTA1-EGFP expression and in vitro invasion potential were measured after transfection. Results： M8 subline expressed significantly higher level of MTA1 than that of M6 subline by RT-PCR. The invasive potentials of low metastasis MG63 cell line were increased after MTA1 gene transfection. Conclusion： There may be a relationship between MTA1 and invasive potentials of human osteosarcoma cells, and MTA1 may play a role in the molecular mechanism of tumor metastases and be a potential target for gene therapy of osteosarcoma. Further studies of MTA1 in human ostersarcoma cell metastasis are needed.     

High incidence of liver metastasis in gastric cancer with medullary growth pattern

We studied the histology of resected specimens from 71 gastric cancer patients with synchronous and metachronous liver metastasis to assess the predominance of a particular histological pattern in gastric cancer with a tendency for liver metastasis. Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma manifesting a medullary growth pattern was the most frequent histologic pattern (33%), followed by papillary adenocarcinoma (28%) in 39 patients with synchronous liver metastasis. In 32 patients who developed metachronous liver metastasis as the main pattern of recurrence, papillary adenocarcinoma was most frequent (47%), followed by poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the medullary type (28%). Scirrhous carcinoma was not encountered in patients manifesting metachronous liver metastasis. As most of the papillary adenocarcinomas exhibited a medullary growth pattern, we hypothesize that gastric cancer of the medullary type tends to metastasize to the liver, irrespective of the basic histologic pattern, and that poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the medullary type has a particularly high tendency for metastasizing to the liver.     

Antagonism of chemokine receptor CXCR3 inhibits osteosarcoma metastasis to lungs

Metastasis continues to be the leading cause of mortality for patients with cancer. Several years ago, it became clear that chemokines and their receptors could control the tumor progress. CXCR3 has now been identified in many cancers including osteosarcoma and CXCR3 ligands were expressed by lungs that are the primary sites to which this tumor metastasize. This study tested the hypothesis that disruption of the CXCR3/CXCR3 ligands complexes could lead to a decrease in lungs metastasis. The experimental design involved the use of the CXCR3 antagonist, AMG487 and 2 murine models of osteosarcoma lung metastases. After tail vein injection of osteosarcoma cells, mice that were systematically treated with AMG487 according to preventive or curative protocols had a significant reduction in metastatic disease. Treatment of osteosarcoma cells in vitro with AMG487 led to decreased migration, decreased matrix metalloproteinase activity, decreased proliferation/survival and increased caspase‐independent death. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that CXCR3 and their ligands intervene in the initial dissemination of the osteosarcoma cells to the lungs and stimulate the growth and expansion of the metastatic foci in later stages. Moreover, these studies indicate that targeting CXCR3 may specifically inhibit tumor metastasis without adversely affecting antitumoral host response. © 2009 UICC     

Endosialin/CD248 may be a potential therapeutic target to prevent the invasion and metastasis in osteosarcoma

Endosialin/CD248/tumor endothelial marker 1 is classified as a C-type lectin-like transmembrane receptor, found on the plasma membrane of activated mesenchymal cells, which binds to fibronectin. Although endosialin is expressed at high levels in stem-like cells of sarcomas, its role has not been fully uncovered. The present study aimed to determine whether endosialin expression is associated with tumor progression and metastasis, and whether endosialin has the potential to act as a novel therapeutic target in osteosarcoma (OS) using MORAb-004/ontuxizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, which targets the type C lectin domain of endosialin. The results demonstrated that endosialin was highly expressed in OSs with metastatic disease. Furthermore, MORAb-004 had no cytostatic effect on OS cells in vitro and did not change the expression of stem cells and differentiation markers; however, it inhibited migration of OS cells. Taken together, these results suggest that endosialin may play a role in migration, and may be involved in the metastatic process of OSs. Furthermore, MORAb-004 reduces the motility of OS cells, and suppresses invasion and the development of metastatic lesions.     

Targeting liver sinusoidal endothelial cells with miR‐20a‐loaded nanoparticles reduces murine colon cancer metastasis to the liver

Phenotypic transformation of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells is one of the most important stages of liver metastasis progression. The miRNA effects on liver sinusoidal endothelial cells during liver metastasis have not yet been studied. Herein, whole genome analysis of miRNA expression in these cells during colorectal liver metastasis revealed repressed expression of microRNA‐20a. Importantly, downregulation of miR‐20a occurs in parallel with upregulation of its known protein targets. To restore normal miR‐20a levels in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, we developed chondroitin sulfate‐sorbitan ester nanoparticles conjugated with miR‐20a in a delivery system that specifically targets liver sinusoidal endothelial cells. The restoration of normal mir‐20a levels in these cells induced downregulation of the expression of its protein targets, and this also resulted in a reduction of in vitro LSEC migration and a reduction of in vivo activation and tumor‐infiltrating capacity and ability of the tumor decreased by ～80% in a murine liver metastasis model.     

不同转移潜能MG63骨肉瘤细胞亚株裸鼠肺转移模型的建立

Objective: To establish a nude mice model of human osteosarcoma lung metastasis. Methods: The growth of human osteosarcoma cell sublines M8 and M6 was determined by MTT assay. 2 × 107 cells were injected into the tail vein of nude mice. Mice were sacrificed started on week 4 after injection, and lung metastases were evaluated under both mac-roscopic and microscopic observation with HE staining. Results: The growth of low-metastatic subline M6 was lower than high-metastatic sublines M8. Seventeen mice after injected M8 had occurred lung metastases while only one mice had oc-curred in M6 group. Moreover, M8 cells within metastases were arrangement disorder with variable nuclear hyperchromasia. Conclusion: A mouse model for human osteosarcoma cancer lung metastasis can be established by injection different ability of metastasis MG63 cells into tail vein.     

Murine osteosarcoma primary tumour growth and metastatic progression is maintained after marked suppression of serum insulin‐like growth factor I

The insulin‐like growth factor I (IGF‐I) signaling pathway has been shown to play an important role in several aspects of cancer biology, including metastasis. The aim of this study was to define the contribution of serum (endocrine) and local (tumour microenvironment) IGF‐I on osteosarcoma tumour growth and metastasis, a cancer that is known to be dependent on the IGF‐I axis. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the primary tumour growth and metastatic progression of K7M2 murine osteosarcoma cells injected to a genetically engineered mouse [liver‐specific IGF‐I deficient (LID)] in which serum IGF‐I levels are reduced by 75%, while maintaining expression of IGF‐I in normal tissues. We first demonstrated that IGF‐I in the tumour and the tumour‐microenvironment were maintained in the LID mice. Within this designed model, there was no difference in primary tumour growth or in pulmonary metastasis in LID mice compared to control mice. Furthermore, there was no difference in the number or localization of single metastatic cells immediately after their arrival in the lungs of LID mice and control mice, as analysed by single cell video microscopy. Collectively, these data suggest that marked reduction in serum IGF‐I is not sufficient to slow the progression of either primary or metastatic models of osteosarcoma. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.