Article
Expression of YAP and TAZ in brain tumours from different age groups
Expression von YAP und TAZ in verschiedenen Hirntumoren im Altersvergleich
Search Medline for
Authors
-
Laura Hero
- Universitätsklinikum Köln, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Köln, Deutschland
-
Roland Goldbrunner
- Universitätsklinikum Köln, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Köln, Deutschland
-
Marco Timmer
- Universitätsklinikum Köln, Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Köln, Deutschland
| Published: | May 25, 2022 |
|---|
Outline
Text
Objective: Brain tumors from different age groups come with variable characteristics. They differ in their molecular characteristics and in the patient’s outcome. Yes-associated Protein (YAP) and the homologous protein Transcriptional Co-Activator With PDZ-Binding Motif (TAZ) are transcriptional co-activators and control proliferation and apoptosis of the cell. It was exhibited, that YAP and TAZ have an impact on proliferation, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells and thereby affect the tumorigenesis and survival of patients. There is evidence, that YAP and TAZ play a role in both pediatric and adult brain tumors, especially gliomas. In young adults these tumors in general show variable molecular structures, coming not only from adult, but also from pediatric brain tumors.
Methods: We analyzed a total of 63 patients divided into three cohorts by age. Patients from the pediatric group were not older than 18 years, young adults are defined from 18 to 25 years and the adult group contains patients older than 25 years. After neurosurgical resection diagnoses including pilocytic astrocytoma (WHO Grade, n=28), ependymoma (EPN, n=25), medulloblastoma (MED, n=20) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM, n=24) were histologically assessed and classified with WHO 2007 classification. Levels of YAP and TAZ gene and protein expression were measured via PCR and Western Blotting.
Results: In pilocytic astrocytoma YAP mRNA expression shows significantly higher rates in the adult group than in the pediatric group (z=3.828, adjusted p=0.0004, Kruskal Wallis test). There is a tendency of higher YAP mRNA levels with increasing age, which however is not significant. YAP protein expression also shows the tendency of higher expression in the adult group. We found high mRNA expression of YAP and TAZ in pediatric ependymoma. TAZ mRNA expression was significant to both young adults (z=3.083, adjusted p=0.0061, Kruskal Wallis test) and the adult group (z=3.794, adjusted p=0.0004, Kruskal Wallis test). YAP and TAZ expression levels in medulloblastoma tend to increase with older age. Both YAP and TAZ mRNA expression in the adult group is thereby significant compared to the pediatric group (YAP: z=3.087, adjusted p=0.0061, Kruskal Wallis test; TAZ: q=4.095, adjusted p=0.0258).
Conclusion: Differences in expression rates of YAP and TAZ could display a possible reason for the variable outcome between the three cohorts.
