[Immunohistochemical expression of alpha-1-antitrypsin in human gliomas]

The present paper describes the analysis of immunostaining patterns of four antibodies, alpha-1-antitrypsin (alpha-AT), glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP), S-100 protein (S-100), and vimentin in 31 human gliomas. The gliomas were 10 astrocytomas, 10 anaplastic astrocytomas, and 11 glioblastoma multiforme tumors. The immunoreactivity for vimentin and alpha-AT that is one of the main proteinase inhibitors changed in proportion to the degree of histological malignancy. As alpha-AT was localized mainly in the cytoplasm of tumor cells and partially in extracellular spaces, it was thought to have been derived from tumor cells. Preparations immunolabelled with anti-GFAP and anti-S-100 showed no increasing loss of immunoreactivity parallel with increasing malignancy.