Prognostic Markers in Chondrosarcoma: Evaluation of Cell Proliferation and of Regulators of the Cell Cycle

Abstract

Purpose. The prognosis, treatment principles and prediction of clinical outcome of patients with chondrosarcoma currently rest on histologic grading which is somewhat ambiguous due to difficulty in pathologic interpretation of this neoplasm. Immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry and oncogene/tumor suppressor gene expression have been examined as alternative indices to predict the biologic behavior of these tumors. Because of partial successes obtained with flow cytometry and because of the improvement in predicting recurrence offered by examining the S-phase fraction, we undertook the current study to determine if expression of specific regulators of the cell cycle would act as prognostic indicators for these patients.