• The association of PPARγ expression pattern with pathophysiology and inflammatory status of malignant bone tumors
  • Amir Reza Eghtedari,1 Banafsheh Safizadeh,2 Mohammad Amin Vaezi ,3 Khodamorad Jamshidi,4 Masoumeh Tavakoli-Yaraki ,5,*
    1. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    2. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    4. Bone and Joint Reconstruction Research Center, Shafa Orthopedic Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    5. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.


  • Introduction: Primary bone and joint malignancies are the third leading cause of death in cancer patients under 20 years of age. The handling of bone tumors is considered a big challenge for oncologists and surgeons due to their diverse histological natures and different clinical manifestations. Therefore, early detection of either recurrent or metastatic disease can contribute to timely decisions and action to treat the tumor, improving patient prognosis. In the present study the expression pattern of PPARγ and its relevance to the inflammatory cytokines (IFNG, TGFB) were assessed in malignant bone tumors at protein level and the relevance of the its expression level with patient's clinic pathophysiology were evaluated.
  • Methods: In this case-control study, 90 patients with osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma bone tumors from Shafa yahyaeen hospital were enrolled in the study. The tumor, normal bone tissues and serum of patients were collected and the protein level of PPARγ was assayed via immunohistochemistry and the level of IFNG, TGFB were assessed using ELISA.). Side-to-side comparisons were conducted using the parametric unpaired t-test and nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test. The chi-square test was used to analyze the statistical differences between bone tumors and the variables (age, gender, tumor grade, tumor size, metastasis, chemotherapy status, response to therapy and tumor recurrence).
  • Results: Measurement of PPARγ expression level in tumor tissues of patients with malignant bone tumors revealed that its level was significantly increased in patients comparing to normal tissues. Also, the increased levels of IFNG, TGFB were detected in serum of patients with malignant bone tumors compared to healthy controls which was associated with elevated level of PPARγ in tumor tissues. The association was observed regarding the level of PPARγ, IFNG and TGFB with tumor grade, metastasis and response to therapy.
  • Conclusion: Our data provide a more efficient and accessible picture of PPARγ expression pattern in bone cancer and further pieces of evidence to utilize it as a possible diagnostic marker in bone tumor pathogenesis.
  • Keywords: PPARγ, malignant bone tumors, cancer, inflammation