Expression of connective tissue growth factor in cartilaginous tumors

BACKGROUND. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) predominantly is express ed in hypertrophic chondrocytes and its specific receptors are demonstrated on chondrocytic cells. Therefore, CTGF may be involved in the proliferatio n and/or differentiation of cartilage cells. In the current study, CTGF exp ression was examined both in chondrosarcoma and enchondroma to clarify the relation between the expression of CTGF and the grade of malignancy. METHODS. The expression of CTGF and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCN A] were analyzed immunohistochemically in 34 cartilaginous tumor specimens. Eighteen tumors were determined to be chondrosarcoma including 8 Grade 1 t umors, 6 Grade 2 tumors, and 4 Grade 3 tumors. The percentage of CTGF posit ive and PCNA positive cells was quantified using at least 500 cells. RESULTS, CTGF was expressed in 70.1% of enchondroma cells, 84.0% of Grade 1 chondrosarcoma cells, 53.7% of Grade 2 tumor cells, and 26.8% of Grade 3 t umor cells (rho = -0.501; P = 0.0053). In chondrosarcoma cases, CTGF expres sion was correlated closely with tumor grade (rho = -0.920; P = 0.0001). Th ere was a strong correlation between PCNA expression and tumor grade (rho = 0.907; P < 0.0001) and a strong negative correlation between CTGF and PCNA expression (rho = -0.493; P = 0.0061]. In chondrosarcoma cases, patients w ith high expression of CTGF (greater than or equal to 30%) showed higher ov erall survival compared with those with low expression (< 30%) (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS. The current study revealed a correlation between the histologi c grade of chondrosarcoma and prognosis, and the concomitant association be tween CTGF immunostaining and tumor grade and prognosis. Therefore, immunoh istochemical staining with CTGF is a useful procedure for assessing the tum or grade and clinical course in patients with chondrosarcoma. Cancer 2000;8 9: 1466-73. (C) 2000 American Cancer Society.