A recent study revealed that single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at codon 388 (Gly or Arg) of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) was associated with prognosis in patients with carcinoma of the breast and colorectal carcinoma. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the correlation between codon 388 SNP and clinical prognosis in patients with sarcoma of the bone and soft tissues.

Tumor samples were obtained from 143 patients with high‐grade bone and soft tissue sarcomas at Okayama University Hospital between 1986–2002, and from 102 healthy volunteers. SNP of codon 388 was detected by sequencing and fragment length of polymerase chain reaction products digested by restriction enzyme. The chi‐square test was used to compare genotype distribution and the Kaplan–Meier method was used for survival analysis.

With regard to FGFR4 genotypes in the 143 patients studied, 54 (37.8%) were Gly/Gly, 72 (50.3%) were Gly/Arg, and 17 (11.9%) were Arg/Arg, findings that were not significantly different from those of controls (P = 0.97). With regard to cumulative overall and metastasis‐free survival, patients with the Gly/Gly genotype were found to have a better prognosis (P = 0.085 and P = 0.27, respectively). FGFR4 SNP was found to be correlated significantly with overall and metastasis‐free survival in patients with soft tissue sarcomas (P = 0.029 and P = 0.045, respectively), but not in those patients with bone sarcomas (P = 0.88 and P = 0.75, respectively).

In the current study, the authors found a significant correlation between FGFR4 SNP and prognosis in patients with soft tissue sarcoma, although the samples were comprised of various histologic types. This SNP might be used to improve the prediction of clinical prognosis and lead to new treatment strategies in patients with soft tissue sarcomas. Cancer 2003. © 2003 American Cancer Society.