Expression of CD44 in human neoplastic and normal hyaline cartilage.

Although low-grade cartilage neoplasms typically consist of hyaline-like cartilage, most of them also contain some fibrocartilaginous regions. CD44, a cell surface receptor for hyaluronan, has been identified in cartilage. A family of alternatively spliced mRNA containing the variant 6 (v6) exon sequence of CD44 has been linked to several types of neoplasms. We hypothesized that expressions of v6-containing CD44 species are associated with fibrocartilaginous regions of low-grade cartilage neoplasms. To test this hypothesis we performed reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical analysis on eight samples: four from normal articular cartilage, one from a synovial chondromatosis, and three chondrosarcomas which were graded as I and I/II. The standard CD44s and a unique v6-containing CD44 species (CD44v6-10) were identified in all tissue samples by RT-PCR analysis. Immunohistochemically, using an antibody that cross-reacted with all CD44 species, CD44 was localized to the cell surface, lacuna wall and intracellular compartment of the chondrocytes in the middle and deep zone of normal cartilage, as well as with cells throughout the neoplastic masses. Utilizing an antibody specific for v6-containing CD44 species, the variant species was identified throughout cells of the middle and deep zone of normal cartilage, and localized selectively to intracellular positions. In neoplastic masses, v6-containing CD44 species were found associated only with cells in the hyaline-like cartilage, but not in the fibrocartilaginous regions. Thus a differential expression of the v6-containing CD44 species in the neoplastic masses containing both hyaline-like cartilage and fibrocartilaginous regions was observed when compared to its homogenous expression in normal hyaline cartilage. An involvement between the lack of the variant CD44 (v6-containing) and altered tissue phenotype (e.g., fibrocartilaginous) is suggested.