Clinical and biological significance of PIM1 kinase in osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most prevalent histological form of primary malignant bone tumor. The majority of osteosarcoma patients have limited alternative therapeutic options and metastatic patients generally have a poor prognosis. Proto‐oncogene serine/threonine‐protein kinase PIM1 is associated with growth and survival of many kinds of tumor cells. However, the role of PIM1 in osteosarcoma remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the functional and therapeutic relevance of PIM1 as a putative target in osteosarcoma. We found PIM1 was highly expressed in various osteosarcoma cell lines and in tumor tissues from osteosarcoma patients. Tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry analysis showed that the overall and disease‐free survival rate of patients with high levels of PIM1 protein expression were significantly shorter than patients with low levels. High levels of PIM1 were also associated with present metastasis and can be considered as an independent prognostic factor in osteosarcoma patients. Knockdown of PIM1 expression by synthetic siRNA or shRNA greatly inhibited cell growth, migration, and invasion. Moreover, these changes accompanied with down‐regulation of anti‐apoptotic protein Bcl‐2. The similar results were obtained in osteosarcoma cells treated with PIM1 specific inhibitor (SMI‐4a). These results suggest that PIM1 kinase is critical for the growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells and can be a potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma treatment. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:1185–1194, 2016.