Osteosarcoma is a malignant bone tumor with extremely high invasion, metastasis and mortality. The prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma remains poor. The ErbB receptor family was found to be overexpressed in human cancers and associated with poor prognosis. However, the role of ErbB receptor family in osteosarcoma has not been fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic significances of ErbB receptors in primary osteosarcoma. Western blot (WB), reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used to detect the protein and gene expression of ErbB receptors in 60 primary osteosarcoma specimens and 30 non-neoplastic bone tissues. WB and RT-qPCR analyses showed that the protein and mRNA expression levels of EGFR, ErbB3 and ErbB4 in osteosarcoma specimens were significantly higher than those in non-neoplastic bone tissues. Seventeen (28.33%), 15 (25.00%) and 15 (25.00%) osteosarcoma specimens presented with amplification of EGFR, ErbB3 and ErbB4 gene, respectively, which were significantly higher compared with non-neoplastic bone tissues. The amplification of ErbB3 and ErbB4 in osteosarcoma was associated with advanced surgical stage. The amplification of EGFR, ErbB3, ErbB4 and the co-amplification of EGFR-ErbB3, EGFR-ErbB4, ErbB3-ErbB4 was linked with poor response to chemotherapy and distant metastasis. The amplification of EGFR, ErbB3 and ErbB4, as well as their co-amplification demonstrated independent prognostic values for reduced survival time of osteosarcoma patients and may serve as potential therapeutic targets for osteosarcoma patients in the future.

骨肉瘤是具有极高的侵袭，转移和死亡率的恶性骨肿瘤。骨肉瘤患者的预后仍然很差。发现ErbB受体家族在人类癌症中过表达，并与不良预后相关。但是，ErbB受体家族在骨肉瘤中的作用尚未完全了解。本研究旨在调查原发性骨肉瘤中ErbB受体的临床病理和预后意义。Western blot（WB），逆转录定量聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）和荧光原位杂交（FISH）用于检测60例原发性骨肉瘤标本和30例非肿瘤性骨组织中ErbB受体的蛋白和基因表达。WB和RT-qPCR分析表明EGFR的蛋白质和mRNA表达水平 骨肉瘤标本中的ErbB3和ErbB4显着高于非肿瘤性骨组织中的ErbB3和ErbB4。分别有EGFR，ErbB3和ErbB4基因扩增的17个（28.33％），15个（25.00％）和15个（25.00％）骨肉瘤标本比非肿瘤性骨组织显着更高。骨肉瘤中ErbB3和ErbB4的扩增与手术晚期有关。EGFR，ErbB3，ErbB4的扩增以及EGFR-ErbB3，EGFR-ErbB4，ErbB3-ErbB4的共同扩增与对化疗的不良反应和远处转移有关。EGFR，ErbB3和ErbB4的扩增，