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62nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
Joint Meeting with the Polish Society of Neurosurgeons (PNCH)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

7 - 11 May 2011, Hamburg

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Active transcription factor Ets-1 is expressed in neoangiogenic blood vessels and tumor cells at the invasive edge of human gliomas and it correlates with the risk of local tumor progress

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  • S. Kuhn - Department of Neurosurgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
  • J. Walter - Department of Neurosurgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
  • S. Pfeifenbring - Department of Neurosurgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
  • A. Schirrmeister - Department of Neurosurgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
  • R. Kalff - Department of Neurosurgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Polnische Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgen. 62. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC), Joint Meeting mit der Polnischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgen (PNCH). Hamburg, 07.-11.05.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. DocMO.05.05

doi: 10.3205/11dgnc024, urn:nbn:de:0183-11dgnc0242

Published: April 28, 2011

© 2011 Kuhn 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: The transcription factor Ets-1 has been implicated in the tumorgenesis and neoangiogenesis of human malignant tumors. Contradictory opinions exist concerning its role as invasion promoting factor in tumor cells as well as endothelial cells in human gliomas.

Methods: In the current study, we investigated the expression of Ets-1 protein in human low- and high-grade gliomas as well as control tissues (n=66 WHO II°, n=91 WHO IV°, n=40 controls) by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, we analyzed Ets-1 and MMP-9 mRNA level by real time-PCR in 25 tumor samples. All expression data were correlated with the overall survival and progression free survival of the patients.

Results: We detected nuclear and cytoplasmic Ets-1 expression in astrocytomas WHO II°, oligodendrogliomas WHO II°, oligoastrocytomas WHO II°, and glioblastomas WHO IV°. At the invasive edge of all the gliomas, Ets-1 expression dominated the nuclear compartment that is concordant with the site of active DNA transcription into mRNA. This was different to the cytoplasmic Ets-1 expression within the compact tumor mass of all histopathological tumor types. Additionally to that, Ets-1 was significantly stronger expressed in endothelial cells of blood vessels at the invasive edge of low-grade gliomas or neoangiogenic blood vessels of high-grade gliomas. Non-neoplastic glial cells did never express Ets-1. Using real time-PCR, we found mRNA of Ets-1 and MMP-9 as Ets-1 dependent gene with a positive correlation in all low-grade astrocytomas but not in high-grade gliomas. The comparison with clinical data of investigated patients revealed a strong correlation of the nuclear Ets-1 expression at the invasive edge with the risk of a local tumor progression in subtotal removal of low-grade tumors or a local tumor recurrence in macroscopically total removal of tumor bulks.

Conclusions: In this study, we showed the expression of Ets-1 in low- and high-grade gliomas and their blood vessels. The expression of Ets-1 correlated with the risk of tumor progress in low-grade gliomas. Our results predict that the transcription factor Ets-1 might have an important role in the malignant transformation and cellular invasion of low-grade gliomas.