Immunohistochemical expression of promyelocytic leukemia body in soft tissue sarcomas

BACKGROUND The function of promyelocytic leukemia (PML) bodies is not well known but plays an important role in controlling cell proliferation, apoptosis and senescence. This study was undertaken to analyze the clinical significance of PML body expression in primary tumor samples from malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) and liposarcoma patients. METHODS We studied MFH and liposarcoma samples from 55 patients for PML bodies. Fluorescent immunostaining of PML bodies was performed in the paraffin-embedded tumor sections. RESULTS PML body immunostaining was identified in 63.9% of MFH and 63.2% of liposarcoma samples. PML body expression rates of all sarcoma cells were 1.5 +/- 1.8% (range: 0-7.0) in MFH and 1.3 +/- 1.4% (0-5.2) in liposarcoma samples. PML body expression (p = 0.0053) and a high rate of PML body expression (p = 0.0012) were significantly greater prognostic risk factors for death than the other clinical factors in MFH patients. All liposarcoma patients without expression of PML were disease free at the end of the study. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that the presence of PML bodies may indicate a poor prognosis for MFH and liposarcoma patients.