Institute of Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Germany.
Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2009 Dec;35(6):555-65. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2990.2009.01021.x. Epub 2009 Mar 4.
The Epo-EpoR pathway plays a role in tumour growth, metastasis and treatment resistance and is a potential target in oncological treatment. As the EpoR status in human meningiomas is unknown, our aim was to characterize EpoR expression in these tumours.
We examined 131 meningioma samples of all WHO grades from 116 patients by immunohistochemistry for EpoR. Among these, 25 meningiomas showed brain invasion and 29 patients had a further tumour recurrence. A group of 20 patients without tumour recurrence served as controls. In 12 cases we were able to compare both the primary and the following recurrent tumours. The presence of EpoR in meningiomas was confirmed by RT-PCR and Western blot.
EpoR was expressed in all meningiomas. Statistical analysis revealed that the mean expression levels of EpoR were significantly lower in primary tumours with known recurrence compared with a recurrence-free control group. Additional matched pair analysis in individual cases showed no significant differences between primary and recurrent tumours. No significant correlation between EpoR expression and WHO grade, age, sex or brain invasion was detected. Using specific primer pairs for RT-PCR, we were able to detect all three known isoforms of EpoR: the full-length isoform EpoR-F, the truncated isoform EpoR-T and the soluble isoform EpoR-S.
Our results demonstrate the expression of EpoR in meningiomas. Lower EpoR mean levels might be a useful marker for a higher recurrence risk, but further studies are needed to clarify the influence of EpoR on recurrences and the role of the different isoforms.
Epo-EpoR 通路在肿瘤生长、转移和治疗耐药中起作用，是肿瘤治疗的潜在靶点。由于人类脑膜瘤中 EpoR 的状态未知，我们的目的是研究这些肿瘤中 EpoR 的表达情况。
我们通过免疫组织化学法检查了来自 116 名患者的 131 例所有 WHO 分级的脑膜瘤样本，以检测 EpoR。其中 25 例脑膜瘤有脑侵犯，29 例患者有肿瘤复发。一组 20 例无肿瘤复发的患者作为对照组。在 12 例中，我们能够比较原发性和随后的复发性肿瘤。通过 RT-PCR 和 Western blot 证实脑膜瘤中存在 EpoR。
EpoR 在所有脑膜瘤中均有表达。统计分析显示，已知复发的原发性肿瘤与无复发对照组相比，EpoR 的平均表达水平显著降低。对个别病例的附加配对分析显示，原发性和复发性肿瘤之间无显著差异。EpoR 表达与 WHO 分级、年龄、性别或脑侵犯之间无显著相关性。使用 RT-PCR 的特异性引物对，我们能够检测到所有三种已知的 EpoR 同工型：全长同工型 EpoR-F、截短同工型 EpoR-T 和可溶性同工型 EpoR-S。
我们的研究结果表明脑膜瘤中存在 EpoR 的表达。较低的 EpoR 平均水平可能是高复发风险的有用标志物，但需要进一步研究以阐明 EpoR 对复发的影响以及不同同工型的作用。
