Alterations in cancer stem-cell marker CD44 expression predict oncologic outcome in soft-tissue sarcomas

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Biomarkers
• Cancer Stem Cells

Background:

• Cancer stem cells (CSCs) contribute to chemotherapy resistance and metastasis.
• Identifying CSC markers can predict patient outcomes in soft-tissue sarcoma (STS).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), CD44, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression predicts outcomes in STS patients.
• To evaluate the prognostic value of CSC markers in soft-tissue sarcoma.

Main Methods:

• Immunohistochemical analysis of ALDH, CD44, and EGFR in 23 institutional STS patients.
• Analysis of clinical and genomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) for 74 STS cases.
• Univariate, Kaplan-Meier, and multivariate analyses to assess disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS).

Main Results:

• Higher CD44 expression showed a trend towards worse DSS and OS in institutional STS patients.
• CD44 copy number alterations in TCGA data predicted significantly worse DSS and a trend for worse OS.
• ALDH and EGFR expression/alterations did not correlate with STS patient outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Elevated baseline CD44 expression is associated with worse outcomes in soft-tissue sarcoma.
• CD44 may represent a novel biomarker for predicting STS patient prognosis.
• Further research into CD44's role in STS is warranted.