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Soft tissue sarcomas represent a heterogeneous group of tumors and include over 50 histotypes. Some of these tumor types are characterized by specific chromosomal translocations, whereas other types show complex genetic aberrations. The recent developments within gene expression technologies have now been applied to studies of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) and the first results indicate that genetic signatures are useful for classification and diagnosis. Distinctive expression profiles have been found in e.g. gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), synovial sarcomas, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), and in subsets of liposarcomas. The more pleomorphic tumor types, such as high-grade variants of leiomyosarcomas, malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFHs), fibrosarcomas, and subtypes of liposarcomas, show a greater variability among the expression profiles, but interestingly subsets with distinctive expression profiles can be identified also among these tumors. The data available place many of the genes hypothesized to be involved in the development of a certain type of STS, such as the KIT gene in GIST development, among the top discriminating genes. Thereby expression profiling provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of STS. Although much work remains to be done to validate the data and to define optimal discriminating gene lists, the current lessons from gene expression studies in STS are encouraging and imply that genetic signatures may serve as diagnostic and prognostic markers and may help identify novel therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRUNE, the human homologue of the Drosophila gene, is located in 1q21.3, a region highly amplified in human sarcomas, malignant tumours of mesenchymal origin. Prune protein interacts with the metastasis suppressor nm23-H1, but shows impaired affinity towards the nm23-H1 S120G mutant associated with advanced neuroblastoma. Based on these observations, we previously suggested that prune may act as a negative regulator of nm23-H1 activity. We found amplification of PRUNE in aggressive sarcoma subtypes, such as leiomyosarcomas and malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH) as well as in the less malignant liposarcomas. PRUNE amplification was generally accompanied by high mRNA and moderate to high protein levels. The sarcoma samples expressed nm23-H1 mostly at low or moderate levels, whereas mRNA and protein levels were moderate to high in breast carcinomas. For the more aggressive sarcoma subtypes, 9/13 patients with PRUNE amplification developed metastases. A similar situation was observed in all breast carcinomas with amplification of PRUNE. Infection of NIH3T3 cells with a PRUNE recombinant retrovirus increased cell proliferation. Possibly, amplification and overexpression of PRUNE has the same effect in the tumours. We suggest that amplification and overexpression of PRUNE could be a mechanism for inhibition of nm23-H1 activity that affect the development or progression of these tumours.

Clinical and experimental evidence suggests that tumor cells shed into the circulation from solid cancers are ineffective in forming distant metastasis unless the cells are able to respond to growth conditions offered by the secondary organs. To identify the phenotypic properties that are specific for such growth response, we injected carcinoma cells, which had been recovered from bone marrow micrometastases in a breast cancer patient who was clinically devoid of overt metastatic disease and established in culture, into the systemic circulation of immunodeficient rats. The animals developed metastases in the central nervous system, and metastatic tumor cells were isolated with immunomagnetic beads coated with an antibody that was reactive with human cells. The segregated cell population was compared with the injected cells by means of differential display analysis, and two candidate fragments were identified as up-regulated in the fully metastatic cells. The first was an intracellular effector molecule involved in tyrosine kinase signaling, known to mediate nerve growth factor-dependent promotion of cell survival. The second was a novel gene product (termed candidate of metastasis-1), presumably encoding a DNA-binding protein of helix-turn-helix type. Constitutive expression of candidate of metastasis-1 seemed to distinguish breast cancer cells with metastatic potential from cells without metastatic potential. Hence, our experimental approach identified factors that may mediate the growth response of tumor cells upon establishment in a secondary organ and, thereby, contribute to the metastatic phenotype.

Amplified segments of the long arm of chromosome 12 are frequently observed in human sarcomas. In most cases there are separate amplified regions around the MDM2 and CDK4 genes. Here we show recurrent amplification of a third region encompassing HMGIC, a human architectural transcription factor gene. Reduced amplification frequency of sequences flanking the gene was observed, indicating that inclusion of this third region in the amplicons is also selected for. In three samples only the 5' part of HMGIC was amplified, suggesting preferential loss of the 3' part of the gene preceding or during amplification. In several other samples rearrangement of the gene was observed. Expression analysis showed transcripts of aberrant sizes, lacking 3' sequences, and 3' RACE of one sample revealed replacement of exons 4 and 5 with ectopic sequences. This truncation of HMGIC resembles that reported for translocations of HMGIC in benign tumors, including lipomas, and it is striking that the gene was frequently amplified or rearranged in well differentiated liposarcomas, the malignant counterpart of lipomas. It seems conceivable that high levels of either full length or truncated hmgic could be relevant for the etiology of these tumors.