Article
The prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) is associated with increased risk of recurrence in human meningiomas
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Published: | May 13, 2014 |
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Objective: Prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), a homologue of the Thy1/Ly-6 family of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored cell surface antigens has been associated with adverse tumor characteristics in prostate cancer, various carcinomas and in gliomas. The purpose of this study was to study the expression level of PSCA in human brain tissue and meningiomas of varying dignity.
Method: We tested a total of 109 human menigiomas and 10 normal control tissues from autopsy brains, containing regular leptomeninx for expression of PSCA by immunochemistry (IR) using the indirect peroxidase technique on tissue multi arrays (TMA) of paraffin-embedded specimens with a semiquantitative scoring system. TMA samples were chosen on the basis of viewed full size slides and contained 1–5 samples per tumor with a diameter of 1,5 mm each. Chi-square test was used for statistical evaluation
Results: We found PSCA mostly absent in normal brain tissues and no or minimally expressed in regular leptomeninges. 12 of 61 Meningiomas WHO grade I (19%) and 19 of 39 Meningiomas WHO grade II (49%) showed slight to moderate expression of PSCA by immunochemistry (IR). In fibrous meningiomas, expression of PSCA was significantly lower (mean Score 0,8) compared to meningothelial meningiomas (mean score 1,5). However, strong PSCA IR was seen only in atypical meningiomas WHO grade II (30%) and in anaplastic meningiomas WHO grade III (67%). The association of PSCA-IR with malignancy was significant (p=0,001). Recurrent meningiomas also showed more immunoreaction to PSCA than meningiomas of the same grade without recurrence.
Conclusions: Our data demonstrate the overexpression of PSCA in a large number of human menigiomas, associated with their malignancy. PSCA may provide a marker to differentiate cases with increased risk of recurrence. Furthermore, antibodies to PSCA, which have already been successfully applied in the experimental treatment of protsatic carcinoma, may provide a therapeutic target for the treatment of inoperable meningiomas.