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Serum concentrations of APO-1/Fas and interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme in osteosarcoma correlate with response to chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND
Cytotoxic drugs used in neoadjuvant chemotherapy may exert their effect by activation of apoptosis. Both APO-1/Fas and Interleukin-1beta-converting (ICE)/caspase-1 are believed to act as mediators of apoptotic cell death.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
The sera of 21 patients with high-grade osteosarcoma were tested at the time of diagnosis by ELISA and compared with clinical data.


RESULTS
The mean APO-1 serum levels were 844 +/- 344 pg ml(-1) and the mean ICE serum levels were 212 pg ml(-1) +/- 155 pg ml(-1) for all patients. Furthermore, both serum levels were found to be statistically significantly higher in patients with good regression grades compared to those in patients with bad regression grades.


CONCLUSION
In highly-malignant osteosarcoma elevated serum levels of both APO-1 and ICE seem to be predictive of good response to chemotherapy.