Abstract
Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignancy of bone. Overexpression of mitotic arrest defective protein 2 (MAD2) is found in many human neoplasms, but its role in the oncogenesis of osteosarcoma is an untouched topic. The objective of this research was to observe the expression of MAD2 in human osteosarcoma and explore its clinicopathologic significance. MAD2 expression was analyzed in 48 primary osteosarcoma cases (19 osteoblastic osteosarcomas, 17 chondroblastic osteosarcomas and 12 fibroblastic osteosarcomas) using immunohistochemistry. A total of 20 normal bone specimens formed a control group. MAD2 was commonly overexpressed in human osteosarcoma. Immunopositivity was higher in tumors with lower differentiation and higher clinical stage. Increased expression of MAD2 was associated with earlier metastasis and poorer survival. Our findings provide evidence that MAD2 contributes to the pathogenesis and development of human osteosarcoma, Testing may have a clinical role in predicting prognosis, selecting appropriate chemotherapeutic strategies and providing novel strategies for osteosarcoma therapy.