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Protein expression of Fas, Fas ligand, Bcl-2
and TGFbeta2 and correlation with survival in initial and recurrent human
gliomas
Strege RJ, Godt C, Stark AM, Hugo HH, Mehdorn HM
Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Kiel, Germany.
rainer_strege@gmx.de
Several studies have recently demonstrated that human gliomas express Fas, Fas
ligand (FasL), Bcl-2 and TGFbeta2 at some degree.
These factors are considered to interact with apoptotic processes and to have
immuno-reactive potential.
Their role for tumor evasion from the immune surveillance is currently under
examination.
To date, there is only limited information about the definite expression
patterns of these four factors in human gliomas, particularly in pilocytic
astrocytoma (PA) and recurrent tumors.
We analyzed 75 human gliomas for the immunohistochemical expression of Fas,
FasL, Bcl-2, and TGFbeta2:
(1) 25 PAs (WHO grade I),
(2) 25 primary glioblastomas (WHO grade IV), and
(3) 25 paired initial and recurrent glioblastomas (WHO grade IV),
respectively.
Co-expression of all four factors was present in the majority of specimens, i.e.
in 72% (18/25) of PAs and 88% (47/50) of primary glioblastomas.
Pilocytic astrocytomas showed significantly higher scores of TGFbeta2 expression
(p < 0.05) and significantly lower Fas, Fas ligand and Bcl-2 scores (p <
0.05) than glioblastomas.
There were no significant expression differences in initial versus recurrent
glioblastoma specimens.
Likewise, no significant correlation was observed between protein expression and
clinical parameters, i.e. total survival time or progression free survival time,
as documented by Kaplan-Meier method and log rank-test.
In conclusion, Fas, FasL, Bcl-2 and TGFbeta2 are differently expressed in PAs
versus glioblastomas.
These factors, however, are not associated with patient prognosis.
The broad co-expression of these factors may enable new therapeutic approaches
in the future.
PMID: 15072445 [PubMed]
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15072445
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