Reduced beta-catenin expression is associated with good prognosis in Astrocytoma
Li-Ying Zhang1, Li-Na Jiang, Fan-Fan Li
1State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Department of Pathology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, China.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of beta-catenin in astrocytoma, and the clinical relevance and prognostic significance of the expression of beta-catenin was also analyzed. Immunohistochemistry was performed on 63 resected astrocytoma tumor specimens to detect the expression of beta-catenin. The correlation between the results of immuoexpression and the clinicopathologic parameters and patient survival was processed statistically. In 63 samples of astrocytoma, 36 cases were immunoreactive for beta-catenin at cytoplasm, ten cases of astrocytoma were immunoreactive at cytomembrane, and four cases of astrocytoma were stained for beta-catenin at nucleus. Spearman analysis showed that the distribution of beta-catenin was not correlated with the grades of astrocytoma. However, the expression profiles were correlated with the patient's 2-year survival, but not correlated with the grades, tumor size, sex, age, or tumor location. Patients with low beta-catenin expression levels tended to be associated with a better prognosis than those who with high levels (p = 0.042). Our results suggest that beta-catenin is useful for the prognosis evaluation of astrocytoma.
Related Concept Videos
Catenins
Catenins in Cell Junctions
Catenins bind to cell adhesion molecules such as cadherins and link them to different cytoskeletal proteins depending on the type of cell junction. At the adherens...
The Retinoblastoma Gene
The first-ever tumor suppressor gene called Rb was identified in retinoblastoma - a rare eye tumor in children. In inherited forms of the disease, a child inherits one defective copy of the Rb gene, which predisposes them to retinoblastoma. However,...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
