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Stem cell-associated genes are extremely poor prognostic factors for soft-tissue sarcoma patients

Oncogene volume 26, pages 7170–7174 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Cancer stem cells can play an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. However, it is still difficult to detect and isolate cancer stem cells. An alternative approach is to analyse stem cell-associated gene expression. We investigated the coexpression of three stem cell-associated genes, Hiwi, hTERT and survivin, by quantitative real-time–PCR in 104 primary soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). Multivariate Cox's proportional hazards regression analyses allowed correlating gene expression with overall survival for STS patients. Coexpression of all three stem cell-associated genes resulted in a significantly increased risk of tumor-related death. Importantly, tumors of patients with the poorest prognosis were of all four tumor stages, suggesting that their risk is based upon coexpression of stem cell-associated genes rather than on tumor stage.

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Abbreviations

ag:

attogram

LMS:

leiomyosarcoma

MFH:

malignant fibrous histiocytoma

NS:

neurogenic sarcoma

RMS:

rhabdomyosarcoma

RR:

relative risk

STS:

soft-tissue sarcoma(s)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Project no. TA 145/8–19 and a grant from the Deutsche Krebshilfe no. 107590. Furthermore, FB was supported by the Wilhelm-Roux-Programm of the University of Halle (grant 12/40), MK by a grant from the Land Saxony Anhalt (FKZ: 3584B/1104M) and AB by a grant from the Wilhelm-Sander-Stiftung. We thank Deanna Naeve and Dr Clayton Naeve from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Memphis (TN, USA) for continuous support and helpful discussions. The funding source had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report.

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Author notes

  1. H Taubert and P Würl: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pathology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    H Taubert, T Greither, F Bartel, A Böhnke, H Schmidt, H-J Holzhausen & S Hauptmann

  2. Clinic of General and Transplantation Surgery, University Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    P Würl

  3. Department of Radiotherapy, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    M Kappler & M Bache

  4. Junior Research Group, Institute of Pathology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    F Bartel

  5. Probiodrug AG, Halle, Germany

    A Kehlen

  6. Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    C Lautenschläger

  7. Molecular Pharmacology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    L C Harris

  8. Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    D Kaushal

  9. Department of Urology, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    S Füssel & A Meye

Authors
  1. H Taubert
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  2. P Würl
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  3. T Greither
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  4. M Kappler
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  5. M Bache
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  6. F Bartel
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  7. A Kehlen
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  8. C Lautenschläger
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  9. L C Harris
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  10. D Kaushal
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  11. S Füssel
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  12. A Meye
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  13. A Böhnke
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  14. H Schmidt
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  15. H-J Holzhausen
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  16. S Hauptmann
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Correspondence to H Taubert.

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Taubert, H., Würl, P., Greither, T. et al. Stem cell-associated genes are extremely poor prognostic factors for soft-tissue sarcoma patients. Oncogene 26, 7170–7174 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1210530

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