Clinical significance of decreased programmed cell death 4 expression in patients with giant cell tumors of the bone

Programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) has been recognized as a novel tumor suppressor gene, which inhibits the activation and translation of activator protein (AP)-1. Dysregulated expression of PDCD4 is also involved in various human tumors and is linked to tumor progression and development. However, the function and clinical implication of PDCD4 in giant cell tumors of the bone (GCTBs) has not been previously investigated. In the present study, PDCD4 expression was determined in 83 samples of GCTBs at mRNA and protein levels by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The results demonstrated that PDCD4 mRNA expression was reduced in 63% of GCTB samples (17/27) and protein expression was decreased in 65% of samples (54/83), compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. Furthermore, decreased expression of PDCD4 was significantly associated with certain clinicopathological characteristics, including the Campanacci grade and recurrence. A strong negative correlation was determined between PDCD4 expression and the Ki-67 positive rate in GCTBs (r=−0.6392; P<0.001). The results of the present study suggest that PDCD4 may serve a role in the malignant progression of human GCTBs and may be an important prediction factor for prognosis.