Cytoplasmic and/or nuclear staining of beta-catenin is associated with lung metastasis

Beta-catenin is involved in cell motility in the extracellular matrix, and is expressed in normal and neoplastic mesenchymal cells. In order to clarify whether beta-catenin expression in the cytoplasm and/or nucleus is associated with a propensity for pulmonary metastasis in osteosarcoma, the LM8 murine osteosarcoma cell line with a high metastatic potential to the lung was compared with original Dunn cells in terms of the beta-catenin expression level. Both osteosarcoma cell lines lost membrane localization of beta-catenin. However, beta-catenin gene had no mutation in exon 3 by direct sequence analysis. A large number of LM8 cells showed diffuse cytoplasmic and/or nuclear staining of beta-catenin (30.8 per high power field (HPF)), while a much smaller number of Dunn cells showed expression of beta-catenin (7.7 per HPF). Cells with positive staining of beta-catenin were frequently seen at the invasive front and in intravenous tumor deposits within the metastatic lesions to the lung. Thus, LM8 cells express a larger amount of the beta-catenin protein than Dunn cells, as judged by immunoblot analysis. In five resected cases of pulmonary metastasis, translocation of beta-catenin to the cytoplasm and/or nucleus of osteosarcoma cells was detected, although seven primary osteosarcomas cells that did not metastasize for more than five years did not show beta-catenin expression. These data indicate that the cytoplasmic and/or nuclear staining of beta-catenin is a biological marker of metastatic potential of osteosarcoma to the lung.