Clinical impact of brachyury expression in Ewing sarcoma patients.

PURPOSE: The T-box transcription factor brachyury has been demonstrated as a prognostic factor in a variety of cancer types and considered a novel oncotarget in solid tumors. Brachyury acts as a regulator of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, leading to more aggressive behavior and poorer prognosis. However, recent literature evidence suggests a tumor suppressor role in other neoplasms. In the present study, we aimed to study brachyury expression and its prognostic impact in Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive neoplasm of young individuals. METHODS: We analyzed the expression of brachyury by immunohistochemistry in a series of 96 Ewing sarcomas in a tissue microarray and investigated the association of the protein expression with the clinical parameters and overall survival. RESULTS: More than half of the cases (51%, n â€‹= â€‹49) depicted positive nuclear brachyury expression, while a lack of expression was observed in 49% (n â€‹= â€‹47) of cases. Nuclear brachyury staining was significantly associated with non-white ethnicity (p â€‹= â€‹0.04) and axial localization (p â€‹= â€‹0.025). Importantly, lack of brachyury expression was significantly associated with lower overall survival in multivariate analyses (hazard ratio - HR: 2.227, p â€‹= â€‹0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate, that brachyury is an independent prognostic biomarker in Ewing sarcoma, which might suggest a tumor suppressor role and which yet to be fully elucidated.