Zeitschrift für Integrative Onkologie

PTEN in Primary Malignant Fibrous Histocytoma: Clinical, Histologic and Prognostic Correlations

Abstract

Manal Mohamed Zyada, Mohamed Ibrahim Mourad, Heba Mahmoud Elsabaa and Mahitabe Elgamily

Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog (PTEN) is a protein that is encoded by the PTEN gene. Mutations of this gene are a step in the development of many cancers. A decrease or loss of PTEN expression has been described in many types of malignancies. This study was designed to evaluate by immunohistochemistry the relationship of Phosphatase and Tensin (PTEN) homolog expression and clinicopathological parameters of thirty-two archival tumor tissues of Malignant Fibrous Histocytoma (MFH) patients as well as analyzing the relationship of its expression with response to therapy. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections from 32 MFH cases were classified according to well-defined criteria into 4 groups. Then, they stained immunohistochemically with PTEN protein. Quantitation of immunoreactivity was performed using an Olympus light microscope interfaced via a Sony camera to an image analysis system. The tendency was observed for positive PTEN expression to be associated with both storiform and giant cell subtypes. Moreover, the loss of PTEN in the 10 patients with recurrent disease who underwent salvage chemotherapy had a poor response to chemotherapy. The present study has demonstrated that loss of PTEN may serve as a reliable biological marker of high malignancy potential in of malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Moreover, loss of PTEN is an important event in regulating sensitivity to chemotherapy in those cases. Thus, our results suggest that the PTEN gene may be a therapeutic target for the treatment of malignant fibrous histiocytoma PTEN MFH cases and its expression help to predict the treatment response.