High expression of EZH2 as a marker for the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign myogenic tumors

Ning Zhang, Zhi Zeng, Shaobo Li, Fei Wang, Peng Huang

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11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Overlap in morphologic features between malignant and benign myogenic tumors, such as leiomyosarcoma (LMS) vs. leiomyoma as well as rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) vs. rhabdomyoma, often makes differential diagnosis difficult and challenging. Here the expressions of Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2), Suppressor of Zeste 12 (SUZ12), retinoblastoma protein associated protein 46 (RbAp46), Embryonic Ectoderm Development (EED) and ki-67 protein were detected by immunohistochemistry to evaluate their values in differential diagnosis. The expression of EZH2 mRNA was investigated by analyzing the Gene Expression Omnibus Datasets. The results demonstrated that EZH2 protein was detected in 81.25% (26/32) of LMS and 70.58% (36/51) of RMS, whereas none of leiomyoma (n = 16), rhabdomyoma (n = 15) and normal tissues (n = 31) showed positive immunostaining (p < 0.05). EZH2 protein was found to have a sensitivity of 91.30% and specificity of 100% in distinguishing well-differentiated LMS from cellular leiomyoma, and a sensitivity of 92.86% and specificity of 100% in distinguishing well-differentiated embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) from fetal rhabdomyoma. Besides, the expression of EZH2 mRNA was higher in LMS and RMS than in benign tumors (p < 0.05). The expressions of SUZ12 and RbAp46 protein were higher in RMS than in rhabdomyoma (p < 0.05). Conclusively, the high expression of EZH2 is a promising marker in distinguishing well–differentiated LMS from cellular leiomyoma, or well–differentiated ERMS from fetal rhabdomyoma, and the upregulation of EZH2 protein expression may occur at transcriptional level.

Original languageEnglish
Article number12331
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 1 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81602535; No. 81760223), by Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning (no. 201740161), by Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (no. 15ZR1421800), and by Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province (No. FB2016121).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Zhang, N., Zeng, Z., Li, S., Wang, F., & Huang, P. (2018). High expression of EZH2 as a marker for the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign myogenic tumors. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 12331. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30648-7