PurposeOsteosarcoma is an aggressive malignant neoplasm, and conflicting findings have been reported on the survival and function recovery in osteosarcoma patients experiencing limb salvage or amputation. In the present study, we compared clinical outcomes regarding limb salvage surgery vs. amputation for osteosarcoma patients by a meta-analysis.MethodLiterature search was conducted in CNKI, Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Database, and Web of Sciences, and the quality of included studies was evaluated based on Newcastle-Ottawa scale quality assessment. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval of the local recurrence, 5-year overall survival, and metastasis occurrence were calculated.Results17 articles were included according to selection criteria. There were 1343 patients in total derived from these studies. Our result showed that there was no significant difference between limb salvage surgery and amputation with respect to local recurrence, and patients with limb salvage surgery had a higher 5-year overall survival, and a lower metastasis occurrence.ConclusionsThe present study provided more comprehensive evidences to support limb salvage surgery as an optimal treatment of osteosarcoma patients.

Bone is one of the most preferred sites of metastasis in lung cancer. Currently, bisphosphonates and denosumab are major agents for controlling tumor-associated skeletal-related events (SREs). However, both bisphosphonates and denosumab significantly increase the risk for jaw osteonecrosis. Statins, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors and the most frequently prescribed cholesterol-lowering agents, have been reported to inhibit tumor progression and induce autophagy in cancer cells. However, the effects of statin and role of autophagy by statin on bone metastasis are unknown. In this study, we report that fluvastatin effectively prevented lung adenocarcinoma bone metastasis in a nude mouse model. We further reveal that fluvastatin-induced anti-bone metastatic property was largely dependent on its ability to induce autophagy in lung adenocarcinoma cells. Atg5 or Atg7 deletion, or 3-methyadenine (3-MA) or Bafilomycin A1 (Baf A1) treatment prevented the fluvastatin-induced suppression of bone metastasis. Furthermore, we reveal that fluvastatin stimulation increased the nuclear p53 expression, and fluvastatin-induced autophagy and anti-bone metastatic activity were mostly dependent on p53.

Paravertebral ganglioneuroma and scoliosis is a rare clinical benign disease. The case we reported is about a 12-year-old girl who was hospitalized due to neoplasm with spinal deformity in the right abdomen for 1 month. Based on a careful preoperative evaluation and found no obvious surgery contraindications, the patient was treated with surgical resection of the tumor and correction of the deformity by surgery. Postoperative pathologic examination confirmed it was a ganglioneuroma. After the operation, the patient recovered well. Her spinal deformity was corrected, and she was 5 cm taller. Complete resection of ganglioneuroma following with a low recurrence rate and a good prognosis, patient does not need further chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or other treatments. All follow-up radiographic studies demonstrated no relapse of the tumor in the following 18 months. Combining this case with similar cases at home and aboard and reviewing related literature, we formed conclusions based on the manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of this disease and provided treatments for similar cases.

Small cell osteosarcoma (SCO) is a rare subtype of osteosarcoma characterized by highly aggressive progression and a poor prognosis. The miRNA and mRNA expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained in 3 patients with SCO and 10 healthy individuals using high-throughput RNA-sequencing. We identified 37 dysregulated miRNAs and 1636 dysregulated mRNAs in patients with SCO compared to the healthy controls. Specifically, the 37 dysregulated miRNAs consisted of 27 up-regulated miRNAs and 10 down-regulated miRNAs; the 1636 dysregulated mRNAs consisted of 555 up-regulated mRNAs and 1081 down-regulated mRNAs. The target-genes of miRNAs were predicted, and 1334 negative correlations between miRNAs and mRNAs were used to construct an miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. Dysregulated genes were significantly enriched in pathways related to cancer, mTOR signaling and cell cycle signaling. Specifically, hsa-miR-26b-5p, hsa-miR-221-3p and hsa-miR-125b-2-3p were significantly dysregulated miRNAs and exhibited a high degree of connectivity with target genes. Overall, the expression of dysregulated genes in tumor tissues and peripheral blood samples of patients with SCO measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction corroborated with our bioinformatics analyses based on the expression profiles of PBMCs from patients with SCO. Thus, hsa-miR-26b-5p, hsa-miR-221-3p and hsa-miR-125b-2-3p may be involved in SCO tumorigenesis.

Metastatic spinal tumours are the most common type of bone metastasis. Various methods have been used to treat metastatic spinal lesions, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, isotope therapy, bisphosphonate therapy, analgesics, and surgery. Conservative treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are not appropriate and usually are ineffective in patients with vertebral fractures and/or spinal instability. Minimally invasive surgical treatments using non-vascular interventional technology, such as percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), have been successfully performed in the clinical setting. PVP is a non-invasive procedure that creates small wounds and is usually associated with only minor complications. In the present study, we will review the clinical status and prospects for the use PVP combined with 125I seed implantation (PVPI) to treat spinal metastases. The scientific evidence for this treatment, including safety, efficacy, and outcome measures, as well as comparisons with other therapies, was analysed in detail. PVPI effectively alleviates pain in metastatic spinal tumour patients, and the use of interstitial 125I seed implants can enhance the clinical outcomes. In conclusion, PVPI is a safe, reliable, effective, and minimally invasive treatment. The techniques of PVP and 125I seed implantation complement each other and strengthen the treatment’s effect, presenting a new alternative treatment for spinal metastases with potentially wide application.