Department of Pediatric Surgery, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200127, China.
World J Pediatr. 2011 Aug;7(3):262-5. doi: 10.1007/s12519-011-0258-8. Epub 2011 Jan 5.
The present diagnosis of teratomas is limited to visual examination of their tissues. For the sake of treatment, teratomas are graded according to degrees of nerve tissue maturation. Mature fetal nerve tissue contains the astrocyte-specific intermediate filament protein, the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). This study aimed to investigate GFAP expressions in the nerve tissue of immature and mature teratomas, and to evaluate if GFAP is indicative of teratoma maturation in pediatric patients.
Nerve tissue specimens were collected from immature (10 children) and mature teratomas (45 children). Nerve tissue specimens as a control group were taken from 33 children with neuroblastoma. GFAP expression of the specimens was studied by immunohistochemical and semi-quantitative analyses.
GFAP expression was low in the nerve tissue of immature teratomas and high in that of mature ones. A semi-quantitative analysis confirmed statistically significant difference between the GFAP expressions of immature and mature teratomas (P=0.0001).
GFAP is highly expressed in the nerve tissue of mature teratomas and low in that of immature ones, suggesting that the GFAP expression is a meaningful indicator of teratoma maturation. It is helpful for pathologists to diagnose and classify teratomas.
目前，畸胎瘤的诊断仅限于对其组织进行肉眼检查。为了治疗目的，畸胎瘤根据神经组织成熟程度分级。成熟的胎儿神经组织含有星形胶质细胞特异性中间丝蛋白，即胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）。本研究旨在探讨未成熟和成熟畸胎瘤神经组织中的 GFAP 表达，并评估 GFAP 是否能提示儿科患者的畸胎瘤成熟度。
从未成熟（10 例儿童）和成熟（45 例儿童）畸胎瘤中收集神经组织标本。神经母细胞瘤患儿（33 例）的神经组织标本作为对照组。通过免疫组织化学和半定量分析研究标本中的 GFAP 表达。
未成熟畸胎瘤神经组织中的 GFAP 表达较低，而成熟畸胎瘤中的 GFAP 表达较高。半定量分析证实，未成熟和成熟畸胎瘤之间的 GFAP 表达存在统计学显著差异（P=0.0001）。
成熟畸胎瘤的神经组织中 GFAP 表达较高，未成熟畸胎瘤的 GFAP 表达较低，这表明 GFAP 表达是畸胎瘤成熟的一个有意义的指标。它有助于病理学家诊断和分类畸胎瘤。
