Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2025
Reconstruct Human Retinoblastoma In Vitro
Published on: October 11, 2022
Exploring metabolic biomarkers in primary and chemoreduced retinoblastoma with patient outcome
Manisha Supriya1, Mithalesh Kumar Singh2,3, Lata Singh4
1Ocular Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Aims:
The goal of this study is to identify the pathological findings and expression of metabolic markers (GLUT-1, PDK-1 and PGC1α) in the tumour microenvironment of both primary and chemoreduced retinoblastoma (Rb) and to correlate with clinicopathological parameters and patient outcome.
Methods:
81 prospective cases were included, in which 53 cases underwent primary enucleation and 28 cases received chemotherapy before enucleation. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR and western blotting were performed to evaluate the expression pattern of metabolic markers in primary and chemoreduced Rb.
Results:
Tumour microenvironment and histopathological findings were different for both primary and chemoreduced Rb. Increased immunohistochemical expression of GLUT-1, PDK-1 and PGC1α was found in primary Rb as compared with chemoreduced Rb. mRNA expression was also found to be upregulated in primary Rb compared with chemoreduced. On univariate analysis, the presence of more than one histopathological high-risk factor (HRFs>1) and PDK-1 immunoexpression was statistically significant with overall survival. On prognostication in primary and chemoreduced cases with hypoxia, we found increased HR in cases with retrolaminar ON invasion, presence of more than one HRF, and presence of PDK-1 and PGC-1α immunoexpression.
Conclusions:
This is the first of its kind study predicting a relevant role of the metabolic markers in primary and chemoreduced Rb with prognostic significance. Differential expression of these markers in both groups of Rb is a novel finding and might be an interesting and beneficial target for the management of Rb patients.
