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CD44 expression in human gliomas
Stella Maris Ranuncolo1, Virginia Ladeda, Sergio Specterman
1Research Area of the Institute of Oncology Angel H. Roffo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Background And Objectives:
Glioma invasiveness involves the attachment of tumor cells to the brain extracellular matrix, rich in hyaluronic acid (HA). CD44, the principal receptor for HA is found as a standard molecule (CD44s) or as variants (CD44v). We undertook a retrospective study to evaluate the expression pattern of CD44s, the isoforms CD44v3, v4/5 and v6 and to correlate their expression with clinical-anatomopathological parameters and survival rate.
Methods:
The expression of these molecules was evaluated immunohistochemically in 84 gliomas.
Results:
No expression of CD44v was detected in any tumors. CD44s staining of tumor cells was found in 70 of 84 (83.3%) of the gliomas. In 23 of 39 (59.0%) of the GBM more than the 70% of the cells were stained, while only 2 of 21 (9.5%) of LGA showed high expression. The association between CD44 and histological grade remained when the prognostic variables were considered in a multivariate analysis. Higher expression of CD44 was associated with worse overall survival rate; however, the Cox analysis indicated that survival was not associated with CD44.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that overexpression of CD44s could be relevant in determining the highly invasive behaviour of gliomas, though it does not behave as an independent prognostic factor for survival.