The clinical significance of the Ezrin gene and circulating tumor cells in osteosarcoma

Guang-Xian Zhong; Shao-Dan Feng; Rongkai Shen; Zhao-Yang Wu; Fei Chen; Xia Zhu

doi:10.2147/OTT.S125589

The clinical significance of the Ezrin gene and circulating tumor cells in osteosarcoma

Onco Targets Ther. 2017 Feb 8:10:527-533. doi: 10.2147/OTT.S125589. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Guang-Xian Zhong¹, Shao-Dan Feng², Rongkai Shen¹, Zhao-Yang Wu¹, Fei Chen¹, Xia Zhu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedics.
² Department of Emergency, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood of an osteosarcoma and the Ezrin gene expressed in CTCs.

Patients and methods: CTC enrichment was done with CanPatrol™ CTC enrichment technique in 41 patients with osteosarcoma. The characterization of CTCs was performed using a multiple messenger RNA in situ analysis (MRIA). The expression of the Ezrin gene in CTCs was detected by RNA probe technology. The correlations of CTC counts, cell type and the expression level of the Ezrin gene with clinical stage and metastasis of osteosarcoma were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 software.

Results: The CTC counts correlated significantly with Enneking stage (P<0.001). The ratio of mesenchymal CTCs correlated with the distant metastases (P<0.001). Ezrin gene expression in CTCs correlated significantly with distant metastases (χ²=152.51, P=0.000).

Conclusion: The ratio of mesenchymal CTCs in the peripheral blood of osteosarcoma correlates with distant metastases. High expression of Ezrin gene in CTCs correlates with distant metastases.

Keywords: Ezrin gene; circulating tumor cells; metastases; osteosarcoma.