Abstract

Introduction: The Giant Cell Tumor of Bone (GCT) is a benign neoplasm, with local aggressive behavior and potential to produce distant metastases. Despite the recent emergence of drug therapies, TGC (Tigecycline) treatment is still essentially surgical with wide resections or intra-lesional ones depending on the location and stage at diagnosis. Piece meal resection, however, are associate with a high risk of local recurrence. Recent immunohistochemical studies on the GCT demonstrate the presence of various proteins and metalloproteinases with variable expression in the tumor cell surface. It is believed that the expression pattern of such substances may correlate with clinical outcome and the risk of local relapse.

Objective: To identify the expression pattern of metallo-proteinases (MMPs) in Giant Cell Tumor Bone biopsy samples registered in the Department of Pathology of the Federal University of São Paulo - UNIFESP and correlate them with the clinical outcome of the patients.

Methods: A retrospective study of 33 patients with GCT bone through immunohistochemical study of slides stored in the department of Pathology to check the pattern of expression of MMP9 through imaging method. Quantitative evaluation of this expression by Image J. software and correlation with local recurrence, metastasis, clinical and epidemiological data.

Results: We found a statistically significant correlation between the mean values of immunostaining of MMP9 and local recurrence (p=036). There was no correlation between MMPs and other clinical, imaging or epidemiological criteria.

Conclusion: There is a prognostic correlation between quantitative values of average MMP9 immunostaining and the tumor local recurrence.

Keywords: Immunohistochemistry; Bone tumor types; Biological markers