excellent prognosis in a subset of patients with ewing ......2011/04/02  · cd56 was found to be an...

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Excellent prognosis in a subset of patients with Ewing sarcoma identified at diagnosis by CD56 using flow cytometry Ash Shifra 1,4 *, , Luria Drorit 1,2 *, Cohen J Ian 1,4 , Goshen Yacov 1,4 , Toledano Helen 1,4 , Issakov Josephine 3,4 , Yaniv Isaac 1,2,4 , Avigad Smadar 1,2,4 1 Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, Petach Tikva, 2 Molecular Oncology, Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Rabin Medical Center, Petach-Tikva 3 Department of Pathology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, 4 Sackler Faculty of medicine, Tel-Aviv university, Tel-Aviv, Israel *: equally contributed to this work Running title: CD56 as a prognostic marker in localized Ewing sarcoma Address for correspondence: Shifra Ash MD, Department of Pediatric Hematology- Oncology, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel. 14 Kaplan Street, Petach Tikva, Israel 49202. Phone 972 39253669 Fax 973 39253042 e-mail: n- [email protected] Research. on June 2, 2021. © 2011 American Association for Cancer clincancerres.aacrjournals.org Downloaded from Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

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  • Excellent prognosis in a subset of patients with Ewing sarcoma

    identified at diagnosis by CD56 using flow cytometry

    Ash Shifra1,4*, ,Luria Drorit1,2*, Cohen J Ian1,4, Goshen Yacov1,4, Toledano Helen1,4,

    Issakov Josephine3,4, Yaniv Isaac1,2,4, Avigad Smadar1,2,4

    1Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, Petach Tikva, 2Molecular Oncology, Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Rabin Medical Center, Petach-Tikva 3 Department of Pathology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, 4Sackler Faculty of medicine, Tel-Aviv university, Tel-Aviv, Israel *: equally contributed to this work Running title: CD56 as a prognostic marker in localized Ewing sarcoma

    Address for correspondence: Shifra Ash MD, Department of Pediatric Hematology-

    Oncology, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel. 14 Kaplan Street, Petach

    Tikva, Israel 49202. Phone 972 39253669 Fax 973 39253042 e-mail: n-

    [email protected]

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    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • Statement of Translational Relevance.

    We have shown that multi-parametric flow cytometry, using CD99, CD90, and a

    negative hematopoietic panel, provides a possible strategy for detecting circulating

    Ewing sarcoma cells. There was a highly significant correlation between CD56

    expression on these Ewing sarcoma cells in BM samples at diagnosis and progression

    free survival for the whole group, for patients with localized disease and for patient

    with localized non-pelvic disease.

    This is the first report in Ewing sarcoma patients, reporting CD56 as a prognostic

    marker for relapse in BM samples at diagnosis. CD56 expression in BM samples at

    diagnosis could be used to identify ES patients predisposed to relapse, thus applying

    treatment intensification and implementation of personalized therapy. Furthermore,

    CD56 evaluation can identify a subgroup of patients with excellent prognosis, in

    whom treatment reduction could carefully be considered.

    Research. on June 2, 2021. © 2011 American Association for Cancerclincancerres.aacrjournals.org Downloaded from

    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • Abstract

    Purpose

    Ewing sarcoma (ES) is considered a systemic disease with the majority of patients

    harboring micrometastases at diagnosis. Multi-parameter flow cytometry (MPFC) was

    used to detect ES cells in bone marrow (BM) of ES patients at diagnosis and to

    evaluate the prognostic significance of CD56 expression in bone marrow samples.

    Experimental Design

    BM samples from 46 ES patients, 6 tumor aspirates, 2 ES cell lines and 10 control

    BM samples were analyzed by MPFC. ES cells were identified by the combination of

    CD45–/CD90+/CD99+. CD56 was evaluated on these cells using a cut off of 22%.

    Results

    BM samples obtained from all patients at diagnosis were found to be positive for

    micrometastatic tumor cells assessed by CD99+/CD90+CD45– expression. 60% of

    the BM samples harbored high CD56 expression. There was a highly significant

    correlation between CD56 expression and progression free survival (PFS) (69% in

    low/negative expression versus 30% in high expression groups, p=0.024). In patients

    with localized non pelvic disease, those expressing low/negative CD56 had 100%

    PFS versus 40% in the high expression group (p=0.02). By Cox regression analysis

    CD56 was found to be an independent prognostic marker with an 11-fold increased

    risk for relapse in patients with localized disease (p=0.006).

    Conclusion

    All samples contained cells that are positive for the CD99+/CD90+/CD45–

    combination at diagnosis indicating that ES is a systemic disease. CD56 expression

    Research. on June 2, 2021. © 2011 American Association for Cancerclincancerres.aacrjournals.org Downloaded from

    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • could be used to reveal ES patients with excellent prognosis or patients predisposed to

    relapse, thus improving treatment stratification and implementation of personalized

    therapy.

    Keywords: Ewing sarcoma, Multi-parameter flow cytometry, CD99, CD56,

    Progression free survival

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    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • Introduction

    Ewing sarcoma (ES) is the second most common primary bone tumor in children and

    adolescents, belonging to the neuroectodermal tumor group known as ES family

    tumors (EFT). Approximately 25% of patients have metastases at diagnosis, which is

    a major adverse prognostic factor. Additional clinical adverse prognostic features

    include pelvic primary site and poor response, defined as less than 90% necrosis, at

    definitive surgery [1].

    Despite aggressive multimodal therapy, one third of patients with a localized tumor

    still may develop a recurrence or progress. Thus, ES should be considered a systemic

    disease with the majority of patients harboring micrometastases already at diagnosis

    [1, 2]. ES tumors are characterized by specific translocations that result in the fusion

    of the EWS gene on chromosome 22q12 with different ETS-related genes, including

    FLI-1, ERG, ETV1, E1AF and FEV [1, 3]. These chimeric transcripts have been

    detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the

    diagnosis of ES. Due to the high sensitivity of the RT-PCR assay, it can also be used

    for detecting circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood (PBL) and bone marrow

    (BM) samples [4-8]

    Flow cytometry (FC) is an alternative sensitive method used routinely for the

    detection of Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) in hematopoietic neoplasm [9, 10]. It

    is also used for diagnosis and follow up evaluation in solid tumors including breast

    and prostate cancer [11, 12] in adult patients and rhabdomyosarcoma and

    neuroblastoma in pediatric patients [13-15].

    The surface antigen CD99 (MIC2) is a marker of ES cells. CD99 is involved in cell

    adhesion, migration, apoptosis and differentiation of T cells and thymocytes. CD99 is

    also highly expressed on T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma and other

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    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • hematopoietic progenitors [16, 17] which, in contrast to ES cells, also express CD45,

    the pan leukocyte common antigen. Thus the combination of both antigens CD99+

    and CD45- can be used to evaluate ES tumor samples. Indeed, DuBouis et al.[18]

    have recently demonstrated that ES tumor cells can be accurately detected in a very

    low frequency of 1 in 100,000 normal cells in BM and PBL by FC using the

    combination of CD99 positive and CD45 negative cells. CD90 or Thy-1 is a 25–37

    kDa heavily N-glycosylated, glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchored conserved cell

    surface protein with a single V-like immunoglobulin domain, originally discovered as

    a thymocyte antigen in mice. CD90 (a stem cell associated antigen) is expressed on

    subsets of hematopoietic [19] and nonhematopoietic stem cells [20, 21] and was

    found to be expressed in ES/PNET tumors and cell lines [22].

    CD56, an isoform of neural adhesion molecule (NCAM), is an integral membrane

    protein expressed by a variety of normal cell types, including a range of

    neuroectodermal derivatives and natural killer cells. CD56 is expressed in a wide

    spectrum of neoplasms including epithelial neoplasms, some cases of ES and

    primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) [23-26]. FC using CD99, CD56 and CD45

    has been used to evaluate ES tumor samples by applying the profile CD99+/CD45 –

    and CD99+/CD56+/CD45– [24, 27]. In addition, the coexpression of bright CD90

    increases the accuracy of ES diagnosis [22].

    In this study, we used Multi-parameter flow cytometry (MPFC) to evaluate the

    presence of circulating ES cells in BM samples of ES patients at diagnosis using the

    combination of CD99+/CD90+/CD45– and to assess the prognostic value of CD56

    expression on these cells.

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    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • Patients and Methods

    We retrospectively analyzed BM samples from 46 patients with ES, treated at SCMCI

    from 1990 to 2008. In 6 of these patients, tumor aspirates were also available.

    Mononuclear Cells (MNCs) extracted at diagnosis from BM of ES patients, tumor

    aspirates and control BM samples were cryopreserved in DMSO in liquid nitrogen.

    This study was approved by the local and national Ethics Committees.

    The median age at diagnosis was 15.8 years (0.3-26). The primary site was extremity

    in 19/46 (41.3%), pelvis-sacrum in 8/46 (17.4%), Askin tumor in 6/46 (13.1%), other

    axial 10/46 (21.7%) and multifocal 3/46 (6.5%). Thirty five (76%) of patients

    presented a localized disease (Table 1).

    All patients were treated by an in house protocol which included 6 courses of

    chemotherapy (Vincristine, Actinomycin-D, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin

    Ifosfamide and Etoposide), high radiation dose of 4500-6000cGy and surgery

    Histopathological diagnosis was based on the appearance of small round cells;

    immunohistochemical staining included CD99, Synaptophysin, Chromogranin, NSE.

    All tumor samples were positive for EWS-FLI-1 transcript by molecular analysis.

    Clinical staging was based on diagnostic imaging studies including x-rays, CT scans,

    MRI and Tc99 bone scans. Median follow up was 60.9 months. Overall survival (OS)

    and PFS for the whole group was 67.6 % and 50.5 % in 5 years, respectively.

    Ten control BM samples were obtained from children that were evaluated for

    hematological investigation and were found to be with no malignancy.

    Sample preparation and staining

    We implemented the MPFC methodology for MRD analysis [28] to evaluate ES cells

    in patient`s BM obtained at diagnosis. All samples were coded and evaluated blindly.

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    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • Cells were stained as described previously, using five-color combination of eight

    different antibodies: CD99-FITC (clone TU12; Becton Dickinson [BD] San Jose,

    CA), CD90-PE (clone 5E10, BD), CD45 Per-CP (clone 2D1, BD), CD3,14,16,19-PE-

    Cy7 (clones: UCHT1, RMO52, 3G8, J3-119 respectively, Beckman Coulter [BC],

    Hialeah, FL), CD56-APC (clone NCAM 16.2 BD).

    At least one million defrosted MNCs were stained and analyzed on a FACSCanto II

    flow cytometer BD Biosciencesusing the Diva software for acquisition and analysis.

    For sensitivity analysis serial dilutions of pre labeled and fixed ES cell line

    (MHHES5) were performed in PBS. Desired amounts were spiked into control BM

    which were then labeled with the five-color combination and fixed with CellFIX (BD)

    [29].

    MPFC analysis

    MPFC analysis was performed using the gating strategy based on sequential removing

    of non relevant cells as described in Figure 1. A debris exclusion gate was set on the

    forward and side scatter (SSC) plot to define the total relevant MNCs. CD45–gate was

    then drawn on a CD45 versus SSC plot to define the suspected ES cells. The CD45–

    cells were gated again on a CD (3/14/16/19)-/dim versus SSC plot to exclude lineage

    specific stem cells that are present in the BM. Cells defined as CD45–/CD3–/CD14–

    /CD16–/CD19–were analyzed for the ES specific markers on a CD99 versus CD90

    plot. We defined ES cells as CD45–/CD3–/CD14–/CD16–/CD19– and positive for

    both CD99/CD90 (ES combination). ES positive cell were defined when a clear

    population of more than 10 events was captured by the gating strategy [30]. The

    proportion of ES cells was expressed as a percent of the total MNCs. A gate was

    drawn on the double positive cells which were then analyzed for CD56 positivity on

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    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • CD56 versus CD99 and CD56 versus CD90 plots (Figure 1). The proportion of

    CD56+ was expressed as a percent of the gated ES cells.

    Cell lines

    ES cell lines: SK-ES1 and MHHES5 were obtained from DSMZ (Leibuiz, Germany),

    and cultured according to DSMZ recommendations.

    Statistical analysis

    ROC analysis was used for the determination of the cut-off values for the CD56

    expression levels with relapse as the dependent variable and CD56 as the independent

    variable. High or low expression levels were determined as higher as or lower than

    the cut-off obtained. PFS by Kaplan Meier analysis was assessed by high versus low

    CD56 expression levels. The correlations between CD56 expression and clinical

    parameters as age, metastasis at diagnosis were evaluated by Fisher's exact test.

    Multivariate analysis using Cox regression was performed for patients with localized

    disease by the parameters age, primary site and CD56 expression. Kaplan Meier

    analysis was used for PFS and OS of the whole cohort (PASW Statistics 18).

    Results

    Both cell lines were characterized as expressing CD99, CD90 and were negative for

    the hematopoietic panel, consistent with our definition. All 6 tumor aspirates also

    expressed both CD99 and CD90.

    All control BM samples were negative for the CD99 and CD90 combination. By the

    spiking experiments we reached the sensitivity of 1 in 100,000 normal cells (data not

    shown).

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    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • ES micrometastatic cells in BM samples

    46 BM samples obtained at diagnosis were evaluated for the ES combination and all

    were found to be positive (≥0.001%), indicating that all BM samples harbor

    micrometastatic ES tumor cells (range 0.001-0.4%)(Table 1).

    No statistical differences could be shown in the OS or PFS of patients according to

    the level of BM involvement, nor could any correlation with clinical parameters be

    identified.

    CD56 expression on ES cells

    ES cell lines were also analyzed for CD56 which was found to be differentially

    expressed as follows: SKES-100% and MHHES-43%.

    CD56 was evaluated on ES cells in BM samples obtained at diagnosis from 45

    patients. In one patient (# 25) the quality of the sample and low number of cells

    impeded the evaluation of CD56. High or low expression was defined as higher or

    lower than the cut-off of 22% that was defined by ROC analysis. Sixty percent of the

    samples (27/45) harbored high CD56 expression. No significant correlation was found

    between CD56 expression and clinical parameters as age, primary site and metastasis

    at diagnosis (Table 1). A highly significant correlation between disease progression

    and CD56 expression was detected by Kaplan Meier for the whole cohort. For the

    group of patients harboring low/negative CD56 expression PFS at 10 years was 69%

    versus 30% in the group with high expression (p=0.024)(Figure 2A). When analyzing

    only the group with localized disease (n=35), those expressing low/negative CD56

    had 81% 10 years PFS versus 38% in the high expression group (p=0.02) (Figure2B).

    Furthermore, when excluding patients with pelvic disease out of the localized group

    (n=30), the difference between the high to low expressing groups was even more

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  • pronounced. 100% 10 years PFS for the low expression versus 40% for the high

    expression (p=0.007) (Figure 3).

    Cox regression analysis in the localized group determined that CD56 expression is an

    independent prognostic marker with an 11-fold increased risk to relapse in patients

    with high expression (Table 2).

    Discussion

    ES is an aggressive malignant bone tumor. A third of patients with localized disease

    will progress. Currently, the clinical prognostic markers are inadequate to predict risk

    of relapse. An improved tool is needed to define those patients that will eventually

    relapse and offer them intensified treatment or to reduce treatment for patients with

    good prognosis.

    MPFC is a sensitive method for the quantitative detection of rare cell populations. It is

    used to detect MRD and accordingly make clinical decisions in childhood acute

    lymphoblastic leukemia [9,10]. This method has also been used to identify circulating

    and/ or micrometastatic tumor cells in adult patients with carcinoma and was proved

    to be a significant prognostic factor in patients with prostate cancer and breast

    carcinoma [11, 12]. In pediatric patients, micrometastatic cells were detected in

    neurobalstoma and rhabdomyosarcoma [13-15]. Only a few ES cases were reported

    using FC for the diagnosis of ES tumors for the combination of CD45–/CD99+ [22,

    27].

    The feasibility of FC to detect circulating and micrometastatic ES cells was recently

    published by DuBois et al [18]). They also showed that six color panel was more

    sensitive than the two color assay in detecting residual ES cells with a background

    rate of 0.00019%, just below 1 in 500,000 cells.

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  • Our strategy was based on the negativity of CD45 and positivity of CD99 on ES cells.

    In addition, we excluded hematopoietic stem cells and added another ES marker,

    CD90. The accuracy of our method was achieved using a gated strategy of CD45-–

    /CD3–/CD14–/CD16–/CD19– in addition to the positivity of CD90 and CD99 on ES

    cells. Using this approach we could reach the same range of sensitivity of 1 in

    100,000 as described by Dubois et al [18].

    CD99 is expressed in the majority of cases of ES and is considered one of the best

    diagnostic markers to date [31]. Interestingly, Rocchi et al. [32] have demonstrated

    that CD99 is expressed on mesenchymal cells, which is considered the origin of ES

    tumor. They have shown that CD99 is required for ES oncogenic phenotype by

    preventing terminal neural differentiation. Chang et al. [22] have shown that CD90 is

    highly expressed on ES cells, and has also been shown to be expressed on

    mesenchymal stem cells [33]. We have detected CD99 and CD90 expression on all

    cell lines and tumor aspirates studied.

    All BM samples obtained from patients with localized and metastatic disease at

    diagnosis were found to be positive for circulating ES tumor cells. There was no

    correlation between the amount of ES cells in BM samples at diagnosis and survival.

    In our previous study using RT-PCR, we could not show a correlation between the

    presence of ES tumor cells in BM at diagnosis and outcome, but detected a highly

    significant association between occult tumor cells in BM or PBL during follow up and

    relapse [34] and also shown by de Alava et al. [35]. However, two reports from the

    same group have identified a significant correlation between BM micrometastases in

    localized patients and outcome [7, 36].

    Although RT-PCR is the common technique for detecting circulating ES tumor cells,

    there are significant advantages for MPFC including: rapid technique, no need to

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    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • identify a transcript, less labor-intensive comparing to RT-PCR, no need for the

    extraction of RNA and can be detected in other body fluids.

    CD56 is expressed in a variety of tumors. It has been detected in pediatric

    malignancies like neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial

    sarcoma, Wilm's tumor and hematopoietic malignancies [37-40]. Its expression in ES

    is controversial. Using immunohistochemistry, ES tumors were found to be negative

    for CD56 expression [40] and a few case reports of ES tumors reported positivity by

    immunohistochemistry [41] or by FC [22, 24, 27]. This controversy could be

    explained by the use of different monoclonal antibodies directed to different isoforms

    on the NCAM molecule [38, 42].

    We analyzed CD56 expression only on the defined ES cells by the combination

    strategy. ES cell lines differentially expressed CD56 and 4 out of the 6 tumor

    aspirates were positive for CD56. Twenty seven (60%) BM samples were CD56

    positive, with a large range of expression: 3%-96%.

    We detected a highly significant correlation between CD56 expression and disease

    progression. Patients harboring low/negative expression had a significant better PFS.

    Furthermore, when reanalyzing only the group with localized disease, those

    expressing low/negative CD56 had even a better PFS at 10 years compared to patients

    with high expression. When excluding the patients with the pelvic primary site, we

    observed a more pronounced significant PFS: 100% 10 years PFS for the low

    expressing group versus 40% for the high expressing group at 10 years (p=0.007).

    Using Cox regression analysis by age, primary site and CD56 expression, high CD56

    was found to be a significant independent prognostic marker for relapse in the

    localized group.

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    Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on April 5, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-3069

    http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/

  • To our knowledge this is the first study, in ES patients at diagnosis, reporting CD56

    as a prognostic marker for relapse in BM samples. CD56 expression analysis can

    identify prognostic groups and facilitate stratification of treatment. These results were

    found using an aggressive treatment protocol of chemotherapy, surgery and

    radiotherapy that have proved to be effective in delaying relapse in resected non

    metastatic ES (unpublished data). It is important to analyze the significance of these

    findings in patients treated on other treatment protocols.

    Increased CD56 expression has been associated with a more aggressive form of solid

    tumors, such as lung, ovarian and renal cell, and in hematopoietic malignancies -

    lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemias [37, 43-45]. CD56 over expression in ES may

    contribute to the aggressiveness of this childhood tumor.

    It had been shown that high expression of NCAM (CD56) can be a target for therapy.

    Indeed, there are several trials targeting the NCAM in malignancies, as small cell lung

    cancer, neuroblastoma and glioma. The huN90-DMI immunotoxin is the most

    advanced anti-NCAM therapeutic strategy and its current clinical development is

    intensively promoted by pharmaceutical companies. There are also reports on naïve

    humanized monoclonal antibodies such as huN901, and eight other monoclonal anti-

    NCAM Abs using radioimmunotargeting with iodine. [37, 39, 43-45]

    In conclusion, MPFC using CD99, CD90, and a negative hematopoietic panel

    provides a possible alternative strategy for detecting micrometastatic Ewing sarcoma

    tumor cells. CD56 expression in BM samples at diagnosis could be used to identify

    ES patients predisposed to relapse, thus applying treatment intensification and

    implementation of personalized therapy. Furthermore, CD56 evaluation can identify a

    subgroup of patients with excellent prognosis, in whom treatment reduction could

    carefully be considered.

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  • Acknowledgement

    This work was supported by the Margalit Josefsberg Foundation.

    We thank Sara Dominitz for the English editing and Pnina Lilos for the statistical

    analysis.

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  • Legends to figures

    FIGURE 1: MPFC strategy:

    A. Debris exclusion in gate P1 on SSC/FSC dot plot.

    B. Exclusion by CD45: CD45 negative cells are shown in P2 on CD45/SSC dot plot.

    C. Exclusion by lineage specific stem cells out of CD45- cells: Selection of the CD3, CD14, CD16, CD19 negative cells by gate P3.

    D. Cells fulfilling characteristics defined in gates P1, P2 and P3 are measured for CD99+CD90 positivity in gate P4 on CD99/CD90 dot plot.

    E, F. Evaluation of CD56 on ES cells gated on CD56/99 and CD56/90 dot plots, shown in P5 and P6, respectively.

    FIGURE 2: Kaplan Meier analysis for progression free survival by CD56 expression

    A: The whole cohort of ES patients (n=45).

    B: Localized ES patients (n=35).

    High: above or equal to the cut-off of 22%; Low: under the cut-off of 22%

    FIGURE 3: Kaplan Meier analysis for progression free survival by CD56 expression

    in the non-pelvic localized ES patients (n=30). High: above or equal to the cut-off of

    22%; Low: under the cut-off of 22%

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  • Fig 1

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    A B

    Low/negative expression 81%

    High expression 38%

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    Low/negative expression 100%ob

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  • TABLE 1: Clinical parameters and expression results of CD90/99 and CD56

    No Age

    (Years)

    Primary

    site

    Metas CD90/99

    (%)

    CD56

    (%)

    Relapse Follow

    up

    1 11.9 limb No 0.03 23 No 101

    2 16.9 pelvis No 0.06 86 Yes 21

    3 24 pelvis No 0.01 19 Yes 35

    4 7.6 trunk No 0.003 56 Yes 33

    5 1 limb No 0.007 12 No 50

    6 23 pelvis No 0.006 12 No 89

    7 2.3 limb No 0.004 0 No 86

    9 19.7 pelvis No 0.008 3 Yes 62

    10 5.8 trunk No 0.021 72 No 77

    11 4.6 limb No 0.014 15 No 38

    12 18.2 trunk No 0.08 97 No 95

    13 14.4 limb No 0.004 30 Yes 99

    14 15.9 limb No 0.058 36 No 88

    15 23.8 trunk No 0.01 4 No 162

    16 24 trunk No 0.007 4 No 33

    17 9 limb No 0.06 76 Yes 28

    18 16.8 trunk No 0.026 5 No 130

    19 12.7 Limb No 0.004 0 No 158

    20 15.9 Limb No 0.078 65 No 79

    21 8.9 Limb No 0.068 43 Yes 21

    22 7.4 Limb No 0.005 37 Yes 6

    23 11.6 limb No 0.001 83 Yes 7

    24 17.4 trunk No 0.005 74 No 242

    8 16 limb No 780.008 69 No

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  • 25 15.3 pelvis No 0.001 No 238

    26 19.5 limb No 0.01 67 Yes 31

    27 14.3 trunk No 0.014 74 No 179

    28 21.7 limb No 0.005 39 No 153

    29 16.3 trunk No 0.08 16 No 242

    30 24.3 limb No 0.15 21 No 168

    31 3.7 chest No 0.005 96 Yes 39

    32 25 chest lung 0.004 35 Yes 30

    33 2.4 chest No 0.001 0 No 83

    34 12 chest No 0.014 81 Yes 23

    35 14 chest No 0.02 90 Yes 50

    36 10.8 chest No 0.02 37 Yes 20

    37 19.9 trunk lung 0.003 0 No 45

    38 9.4 limb bone 0.022 0 Yes 8

    39 20 Multifoc

    al bone

    bone 0.003 14 Yes 15

    40 13.6 limb lung 0.008 28 Yes 31

    41 25.9 Multifoc

    al bone

    bone 0.01 29 Yes 41

    42 18.2 Multifoc

    al bone

    bone 0.4 51 Yes 7

    43 24.9 pelvis lung 0.016 13 No 39

    44 9.6 limb lung 0.01 21 Yes 20

    45 17.8 pelvis lung 0.005 36 Yes 22

    46 21.7 pelvis bone 0.06 54 Yes 5

    Age: at diagnosis; Metas: metastasis at diagnosis; CD56: expression on the CD90/99 positive cells only; Follow up: months from diagnosis untill relapse or untill last follow up.

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  • Age: at diagnosis; Metas: metastasis at diagnosis; CD56: expression on the CD90/99 positive cells only; Follow up: months from diagnosis untill relapse or untill last follow up.

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  • TABLE 2: Univariate and Multivariate analyses of the Clinical Parameters and CD56 expression results for localized ES patients (n=35).

    Parameter Univariate

    p p RR 95% CI

    CD56 0.02 0.006 11.8 2.0-68

    Age

    (years)

    0.002 0.021 0.23 0.06-0.8

    Primary

    site

    0.08 0.002 17.3 2.9-102

    P: p value, RR: relative risk to relapse; CI: confidence interval

    Multivariate

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  • Published OnlineFirst April 5, 2011.Clin Cancer Res Shifra Ash, Drorit Luria, Ian J. Cohen, et al. identified at diagnosis by CD56 using flow cytometryExcellent prognosis in a subset of patients with Ewing sarcoma

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