gms | German Medical Science

61st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC) as part of the Neurowoche 2010
Joint Meeting with the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery on the 20 September 2010

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

21 - 25 September 2010, Mannheim

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Aberrant retinoic acid signaling in gliomas contributes to tumor malignancy

Meeting Abstract

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  • Benito Campos - Abteilung Neurochirurgische Forschung, Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland
  • Franz-Simon Centner - Abteilung Neurochirurgische Forschung, Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland
  • Justo Lorenzo Bermejo - Institut für Medizinische l Biometryie und Informatik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland
  • Katharina Dorsch - Abteilung Neurochirurgische Forschung, Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland
  • Christel C. Herold-Mende - Abteilung Neurochirurgische Forschung, Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland
  • Andreas Unterberg - Abteilung Neurochirurgische Forschung, Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 61. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC) im Rahmen der Neurowoche 2010. Mannheim, 21.-25.09.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. DocP1710

doi: 10.3205/10dgnc181, urn:nbn:de:0183-10dgnc1814

Published: September 16, 2010

© 2010 Campos et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: In gliomas, undifferentiated tumor cells influence tumor growth and seem to be irresponsive to physiological differentiation stimuli, persisting in an undifferentiated developmental state associated with high tumorigenicity and therapy resistance. Here we investigated potential disruptions in the retinoic acid (RA) differentiation pathway that could lead to a loss of differentiation capacity and impact on patient prognosis.

Methods: Expression of key-molecules belonging to the RA differentiation pathway was analyzed on a tissue microarray, consisting of tumor samples from 283 astrocytic gliomas WHO II-IV. Protein expression was correlated with tumor grade, tumor differentiation and patient survival data.

Results: In sharp contrast to other tumor entities, gliomas featured a malignancy-dependent increase in the expression of molecules belonging to the RA synthesis machinery. In detail, this included tumor grade-dependent expression of 1) the intracellular RA-binding protein CRBP1 (p<0.001) catalyzing cellular retinoid uptake, 2) ALDH1A1 (p=0.012) capable of activating RA precursors and 3) the RA-degrading enzyme CYP26B1 (p<0.001). On the other hand, expression of the natural RA-binding protein CRABP2 which fosters differentiation decreased with tumor malignancy (p<0.001). This was further aggravated by increased expression of the intracellular RA-binding protein FABP5 (p<0.001), which can hinder RA-induced differentiation diverting RA into a tumor-promoting pathway. Supporting this assumption, high expression of CRBP1 was associated with increased tumor cell proliferation (p<0.001) and elevated FABP5 levels correlated with an undifferentiated and more aggressive tumor phenotype (p=0.003). Finally, ALDH1A1, discussed as potential (cancer) stem-cell marker besides its involvement in RA signalling, proved to be an independent marker for poor patient survival (p=0.016).

Conclusions: Our data indicate that a complex deregulation in the RA pathway exerts an unfavourable influence on patient prognosis and seems to be involved in the loss of the differentiation capacity in gliomas.