Matusan Koviljka, Dordevic Gordana, Stipic Darko, Mozetic Vladimir, Lucin Ksenija
Department of Pathology, Rijeka University School of Medicine, Rijeka, Croatia.
J Surg Oncol. 2006 Sep 15;94(4):325-31. doi: 10.1002/jso.20447.
Osteopontin (OPN) is a phosphorylated glycoprotein with diverse functions including tumorigenesis and tumor cell metastasis. Recently, it has been detected in a growing number of human tumors, and assessed as a potential prognostic marker. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of OPN in normal renal tissue and clear cell renal cell carcinomas (CRCCs), and to assess its prognostic significance.
The expression of OPN protein was immunohistochemically analyzed in 171 CRCCs and compared to usual clinicopathological parameters such as tumor size, nuclear grade, pathological stage, Ki-67 proliferation index, and cancer-specific survival.
In normal renal parenchyma, the expression of OPN was seen in distal tubular epithelial cells, calcifications, and some stromal cells. The upregulation of OPN was observed in 61 CRCCs (35.7%) in the form of cytoplasmic granular staining of various intensities. Statistical analysis showed correlation of the OPN expression with tumor size (P < 0.001), Fuhrman nuclear grade (P < 0.001), pathological stage (P = 0.011), and Ki-67 proliferation index (P < 0.001). Moreover, patients with OPN-positive tumors had significantly worse prognosis in comparison to patients with tumors lacking OPN protein (P = 0.004).
Our results suggest that overexpression of OPN is involved in the progression of CRCC.
骨桥蛋白（OPN）是一种磷酸化糖蛋白，具有多种功能，包括肿瘤发生和肿瘤细胞转移。最近，在越来越多的人类肿瘤中检测到它，并被评估为一种潜在的预后标志物。本研究的目的是分析OPN在正常肾组织和透明细胞肾细胞癌（CRCC）中的表达，并评估其预后意义。
采用免疫组织化学方法分析171例CRCC中OPN蛋白的表达，并与肿瘤大小、核分级、病理分期、Ki-67增殖指数和癌症特异性生存等常见临床病理参数进行比较。
在正常肾实质中，OPN表达见于远端肾小管上皮细胞、钙化灶和一些基质细胞。61例（35.7%）CRCC中观察到OPN上调，表现为不同强度的细胞质颗粒染色。统计学分析显示，OPN表达与肿瘤大小（P < 0.001）、Fuhrman核分级（P < 0.001）、病理分期（P = 0.011）和Ki-67增殖指数（P < 0.001）相关。此外，与缺乏OPN蛋白的肿瘤患者相比，OPN阳性肿瘤患者的预后明显更差（P = 0.004）。
我们的结果表明，OPN的过表达参与了CRCC的进展。
