The Cytogenesis of Macrophages and Osteoclast-like Giant Cells in Bone Tumors with Special Emphasis on the So-Called Fibrohistiocytic Tumors

Abstract

The osteoclast was first described in 1873 by Kölliker as a “bone resorbing cell.” Its origin, however, remained obscure. Osteoblasts and osteoclasts were first believed to have a common origin, a precursor descending from the connective tissue of bone (Tonna and Cronkite 1961). Later observations and experimental results prompted a search for osteoclast precursors in the mononuclear phagocyte system (Fishman and Hay 1962; Jee and Nolan 1963; Hanaoka et al. 1970; Chambers 1978; Byers et al. 1975; Kasahara et al. 1979). Morphological and enzyme histochemical investigations revealed several similarities between macrophages and multinucleated giant cells in bone tumors, as far as their histological appearance and their intracellular enzymatic pattern were concerned (Chambers 1978; Aparisi etal. 1977; Steiner etal. 1972; Schajowicz 1961; Yoshida etal. 1982). Osteoclasts and tumor-associated giant cells were found to share the presence of the enzymes nonspecific esterase and acid Phosphatase, which are both equally characteristic of macrophages (Chambers 1978; Schajowicz 1961). Experimental cell analysis in studies of thorotrast-stained peritoneal macrophages from healthy rats, transfused into histocompatible rats with experimental fractures (Göthlin and Ericsson 1976), as well as studies of osteopetrotic mice (Loutit and Sansom 1976), further advanced the research. Quail-chick chimera experiments suggested that osteoclasts are differentiated descendants of the multipotential hematopoietic stem cell of the bone marrow (Ash et al. 1980).