Abstract

Human soft tissue sarcomas (HSTS) in adults are a family of mesenchymal tumors characterized by high biological aggressiveness and general refractoriness to chemotherapy. A series of 36 HSTS, 24 untreated and 12 homogeneously treated with a presurgical chemotherapeutic regimen consisting of doxorubicin (intra-arterial) and iphosphamide (intra-vein), was analyzed for expression of MDR1 and the glutathione-S-transferase-pi (GST-pi) gene in order to identify molecular phenomena which may be implicated in the chemoresistance displayed by these tumors. The MDR1 gene was expressed in a greater percentage of drug-treated tumors and at higher levels than in untreated ones. By contrast, chemotherapeutic treatment has no effect on GST-pi mRNA expression. The GST-pi expression level (EL) was much higher in the HSTS with biologically aggressive features. In fact, significant correlations were observed between GST-pi and histologic grade (p = 0.01); aneuploidy (p less than 0.01); and histone H3 EL (p = 0.01), suggesting a possible causal relationship between GST-pi activity and biological aggressiveness in HSTS.