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Genetic models of osteochondroma onset and neoplastic progression: evidence for mechanisms alternative to EXT genes inactivation

Oncogene volume 29, pages 3827–3834 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Osteochondroma, the most common benign bone tumor, may occur as a sporadic lesion or as multiple neoplasms in the context of multiple osteochondromas syndrome. The most severe complication is malignant transformation into peripheral secondary chondrosarcoma. Although both benign conditions have been linked to defects in EXT1 or EXT2 genes, contradictory reports are present in the literature regarding the requirement of their biallelic inactivation for osteochondroma development. A major limitation of these studies is represented by the small number of samples available for the screening. Taking advantage of a large series of tissues, our aim was to contribute to the definition of a genetic model for osteochondromas onset and transformation. EXT genes point mutations and big deletions were analyzed in 64 tissue samples. A double hit was found in 5 out of 35 hereditary cases, 6 out of 16 chondrosarcomas and 2 recurrences; none of the 11 sporadic osteochondromas showed two somatic mutations. Our results clearly indicate that, in most cases, biallelic inactivation of EXT genes does not account for osteochondromas formation; this mechanism should be regarded as a common feature for hereditary osteochondromas transformation and as an event that occurs later in tumor progression of solitary cases. These findings suggest that mechanisms alternative to EXT genetic alteration likely have a role in osteochondromas pathogenesis.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Project EuroBoNeT.

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Author notes

  1. M Zuntini and E Pedrini: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics and Skeletal Rare Diseases, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy

    M Zuntini, E Pedrini, A Parra, F Sgariglia, F V Gentile, M Pandolfi & L Sangiorgi

  2. Department of Anatomical Pathology and Histology, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy

    M Alberghini

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  1. M Zuntini
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  2. E Pedrini
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Correspondence to L Sangiorgi.

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Zuntini, M., Pedrini, E., Parra, A. et al. Genetic models of osteochondroma onset and neoplastic progression: evidence for mechanisms alternative to EXT genes inactivation. Oncogene 29, 3827–3834 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2010.135

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2010.135

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