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Oligodendrocyte lineage genes (OLIG)
as molecular markers for human glial brain tumors
Q. Richard Lu, John K. Park,
Elizabeth Noll, Jennifer A. Chan, John Alberta, Dongin Yuk, M. Garcia
Alzamora, David N. Louis, Charles D. Stiles, David H. Rowitch, and
Peter M. Black
Departments of Cancer Biology
[Q.R.L., J.K.P, J.A., M.G.A., C.D.S.*] and Pediatric Oncology [D.Y.,
D.H.R.*], the Program in Neuro-oncology, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer
Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston,
MA 02115; Department of Neurosurgery [J.K.P., E.N., P.M.B.] and
Neuropathology [J.A.C.], Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
02115; Department of Pathology and Neurosurgical Service,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129 [D.N.L.]; and
Division of Newborn Medicine, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
[D.H.R.]. *To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: Chuck_Stiles@dfci.harvard.edu
or David_Rowitch@dfci.harvard.edu. Communicated
by Peter M. Howley, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, July 5, 2001
(received for review February 15, 2001).
The most common primary tumors of the
human brain are thought to be of glial cell origin.
However, glial cell neoplasms cannot be
fully classified by cellular morphology or with conventional markers
for astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, or their progenitors.
Recent insights into central nervous
system tumorigenesis suggest that novel molecular markers
might be found among factors that have roles in glial
development.
Oligodendrocyte lineage genes (Olig1/2)
encode basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors.
In the rodent central nervous system, they
are expressed exclusively in oligodendrocytes and
oligodendrocyte progenitors, and Olig1 can promote
formation of an chondroitin sulfate proteoglycon-positive glial
progenitor.
Here we show that human OLIG genes
are expressed strongly in oligodendroglioma, contrasting
absent or low expression in astrocytoma.
Our data provide evidence that neoplastic
cells of oligodendroglioma resemble oligodendrocytes or
their progenitor cells and may derive from cells of this
lineage.
They further suggest the
diagnostic potential of OLIG markers to augment identification
of oligodendroglial tumors.
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