The Association Between Survival Times And The Expressions Of PCNA, VEGF And PTEN In Malignant Gliomas

Objective:Glioma is the most common primary tumor in central nervous system(CNS) with poor prognosis. It is not uncommon that patient with same pathological profile, but the prognosis is quite different. For glioblastoma multiforme patients, most of them died within 1 year of diagnosis,but long-term survival of more than 5 or 10 years was observed. The reasons might be different treatment, age, immunity and tumor site, but the heterogeneity of the tumor itself,specially genetic and biological variability, is also impoant. We investigate the association between survival times and the expressions of PCNA, VEGF and PTEN in malignant gliomas by immunohistochemistry.Methods:The expressions of PCNA, VEGF and PTEN in malignant gliomas were detected in 21 paraffin-embedded glioma blocks(WHO2000 criteria grade3 n=9, grade4 n=12) and 4 normal brain samples by 2-step immunohistochemical methods.Results:There was a statistical difference between the two testing results about VEGF and PTEN proteins with the prognosis in malignant glioma patients (P< 0.05), but no a statistical difference between expression of PCNA protein and survival times (P>0.05).The expression of VEGF protein was significantly negative correlated with that of PTEN (r=-0.691, P<0.01),the expression of VEGF protein was significantly positive correlated with that of PCNA (r=0.541, P<0.05),but no correlated between expression of PCNA and PTEN protein in these patients (P>0.05)Conclusion:1 The expression of VEGF and PTEN proteins in malignant glioma patients is strongly associated with the prognosis.The proteins may be valuable biomarkers for determining prognosis in glioma patients, but there is no correlation with expression of PCNA protein.2.The expression of VEGF protein was significantly negative correlated with that of PTEN. So the detection of VEGF and PTEN proteins may improve accuracy in the prediction of aggressive and survival times.