Article
Podoplanin expression influences survival in glioblastoma
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Published: | June 4, 2012 |
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Objective: Podoplanin is a type-I transmembrane glycoprotein. Several reports suggest a role of podoplanin in tissue development and repair as well as in carcinogenesis. Podoplanin is widely expressed in tumours of the CNS, including ependymal tumours, choroid plexus papillomas, meningeomas, pilocytic astrocytomas and glioblastomas. In malignant astrocytic tumours, increased expression of podoplanin correlated with higher histological tumour malignancy. No data on Podoplanin influencing survival in glioma have been published yet.
Methods: Here we immunohistochemically assessed podoplanin expression using a monoclonal antibody in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of 80 patients with supratentorial glioblastomas and 21 patients with supratentorial grade II and III gliomas. Cases were rated either as positive or negative.
Results: Podoplanin was expressed in 1/13 grade II gliomas, 2/8 grade III gliomas, and 54/80 glioblastomas. Patients with glioblastomas expressing podoplanin had significantly shorter overall survival than those without (p = 0.01, log rank test).
Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence that Podoplanin is linked with clinically more aggressive behaviour in glioblastomas and suggest that podoplanin inhibition could be considered as a possible therapeutic approach in malignant gliomas.