Werner syndrome (WS), adult progeria, is more common in Japan than elsewher
e. It predisposes to osteosarcoma (OS) and five other rare tumors. To deter
mine if and how OS is atypical in this genetic disorder, we studied the cha
racteristics of ten Japanese cases with respect to clinical features, patho
logy, and radiographs, and compared them with a hospital series of 36 skele
tal OS with the same atypical age-range, 35-57 years. The anatomic sites we
re also atypical: seven ankle/foot, two radius and one patella compared wit
h only one at the ankle in the hospital series. The osteoblastic cell-type
was about equally frequent in both series, but, among others than the three
major subtypes, there was only one in WS as compared with 14 (39%) in the
hospital series. The types of mutations were sought in five WS cases with O
S. One showed no mutation at any of the ten known loci for Japanese, two we
re of type 4/4 and two of type 6/6. The mutations 4 and 6 have been found i
n 66% of alleles of WS cases in Japan. The increased frequency and unusual
age and site distributions of OS in WS may be due to increased susceptibili
ty, related to later-life leg ulcers, and weight-bearing on spindly ankles
weakened by severe loss of lower limb subcutaneous tissue.