Reduced beta-catenin expression is associated with good prognosis in Astrocytoma.

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.