Aberrant ADAM10 expression correlates with osteosarcoma progression

BACKGROUND Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer and is notorious for its rapid progression. The Notch signaling pathway has recently been shown to be involved in osteosarcoma. As a major sheddase of Notch receptors, ADAM10 has been implicated in many types of cancers, but its role in osteosarcoma has not been investigated. Previous studies have shown that the expression of CD31 was significantly elevated in metastatic osteosarcoma; however, its expression in nonmetastatic groups is not known. In addition, the mysterious multinucleated giant cell in giant cell-rich osteosarcoma was previously regarded as an osteoclast-like cell, but its exact identity is unclear. METHOD Tissue chip samples from 40 cases of nonmetastatic osteosarcoma were stained for cytoplasmic ADAM10, activated Notch1 and CD31. Osteoclasts in tumor sections were also stained for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). RESULTS Immunofluorescence staining revealed that ADAM10 expression significantly increased with the progression of osteosarcoma as well as in osteoblastic osteosarcoma, whereas the expression of the Notch intracellular domain (NICD) and CD31 was not significantly altered between different pathological stages. In addition, multinucleated giant cells in giant cell-rich osteosarcoma were also found to coexpress CD31, ADAM10 and NICD, but were negative for TRAP staining. CONCLUSIONS Our results highlight the importance of ADAM10 in the progression of osteosarcoma and suggest that the protein might be a potential therapeutic target in osteosarcoma treatment. This study also demonstrates that the multinucleated giant cell is an angiogenic tumor cell, rather than an osteoclast, and involves ADAM10/Notch1 signaling activation.