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Updated: May 12, 2026
Evaluation of Biomarkers in Glioma by Immunohistochemistry on Paraffin-Embedded 3D Glioma Neurosphere Cultures
Published on: January 9, 2019
Clinical significance of FOXP3 expression in human gliomas
1Graduate School, Tianjin Medical University, No. 22 Qixiangtai Road, Tianjin, 300070, China.
Objective:
Studies have demonstrated that the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) is expressed not only in regulatory T cells, but also in some cancer cells. This study aims to clarify whether or not FOXP3 expression occurs in human gliomas and investigate the clinical significance of this expression in gliomas.
Methods:
We detected FOXP3 protein expression in 40 glioma samples, 3 normal brain tissue samples, and 4 normal tonsil tissue samples using immunohistochemical staining and western blot. The expression of FOXP3 protein was also detected in five glioma cell lines by western blot. We also evaluated the association of FOXP3 expression with clinical pathological grades, prognosis, and recurrence.
Results:
Western blot analysis showed that the expression of FOXP3 protein was upregulated in high-grade glioma (HGGS) samples compared with low-grade samples. The cell line U87 showed the highest FOXP3 expression, while U373 had the lowest expression. Immunohistochemical analysis detected FOXP3 protein in 35 out of the 40 (87.5 %) glioma samples and high levels of FOXP3 were observed in 26 out of the 27 (96.3 %) high-grade gliomas samples. Statistical analysis suggested that the upregulation of FOXP3 is significantly correlated with the histologic grade of gliomas (P < 0.05) and that patients with high expression of FOXP3 protein exhibit a poorer prognosis than those with low FOXP3 expression.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that FOXP3 expression in glioma cells has a crucial function in the development of HGGS and is associated with the malignant biological behavior of HGGS.
