The expression of moesin in astrocytoma: correlation with pathologic grade and poor clinical outcome.

Moesin, a member of the ERM family, acts as a linker between the actin cytoskeleton and the plasma membrane and plays a key role in the control of cell morphology, motility, adhesion and other processes of tumourigenesis. The expression pattern and clinical significance of moesin in astrocytoma remain unknown. In this study, we used RT-PCR to systematically investigate the expression of moesin in 49 astrocytomas of different pathological grade and 6 normal brain tissues. We found that the mRNA expression levels of moesin in astrocytomas were significantly higher in comparison with normal brain tissues. Furthermore, moesin up-regulation was correlated with pathological grade of astrocytomas. Subsequently, we tested 112 astrocytomas and 14 normal brain tissues by immunohistochemistry. Similar results were also confirmed. Univariate and multivariate survival analysis were used to determine the correlations of moesin expression with overall survival and progression-free survival. Our results showed the expression of moesin was strongly negatively correlated with the patient progression-free survival and overall survival. These results suggest moesin protein involved in the genesis and progression of astrocytomas and might be regarded as an independent predictor of poor prognosis.