Zhang Lei, Yan Yong, Jiang Ying, Cui Yong, Zou Yongxiang, Qian Jun, Luo Chun, Lu Yicheng, Wu Xiaojun
Department of Neurosurgery, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Fengyang road, No. 415, Shanghai, 200003, China.
J Neurooncol. 2015 Jan;121(2):261-8. doi: 10.1007/s11060-014-1646-4. Epub 2014 Oct 31.
The spalt-like transcription factor 4 (SALL4) gene has been demonstrated to be overexpressed in many malignancies, but little is known about its expression in gliomas. To explore the expression of SALL4 in patients with gliomas and the relationship between SALL4 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics, qPCR and immunohistochemical staining were used to investigate the SALL4 expression level in 54 glioma specimens and seven normal brain tissues. In vitro, siRNAs against SALL4 in U251 cell line were constructed and cell proliferation was evaluated by CCK8 assay. The SALL4 expression level in glioma was significantly higher than that in normal brain tissues (P < 0.05). Both qPCR and immunohistochemical analysis found that the expression of SALL4 was tightly correlated with glioma pathology grade (P < 0.05). Analysis using glioma and normal brain tissues revealed that SALL4 was positively proportionated to glioma cell differentiation with high sensitivity (92.59 %) and specificity (85.71 %). Survival analysis indicated the SALL4 expression was an independent prognostic factor. High level of SALL4 expression was correlated with poor outcome in patients with gliomas. This result agreed with the negative correlation between SALL4 expression and overall survival period obtaining in GBM patients from the cancer genome atlas database. The CCK8 experiments demonstrated SALL4 could significantly inhibit cell proliferation in U251 cell line (P < 0.05). The findings of the current study indicated that the SALL4 may play an important role in progression, development and maintenance of glioma.
斯帕尔样转录因子4（SALL4）基因已被证实在多种恶性肿瘤中过表达，但对其在胶质瘤中的表达情况知之甚少。为了探究SALL4在胶质瘤患者中的表达以及SALL4表达与临床病理特征之间的关系，采用qPCR和免疫组化染色法检测了54例胶质瘤标本和7例正常脑组织中SALL4的表达水平。在体外，构建了针对U251细胞系中SALL4的小干扰RNA（siRNA），并通过CCK8法评估细胞增殖情况。胶质瘤中SALL4的表达水平显著高于正常脑组织（P<0.05）。qPCR和免疫组化分析均发现，SALL4的表达与胶质瘤病理分级密切相关（P<0.05）。对胶质瘤和正常脑组织的分析显示，SALL4与胶质瘤细胞分化呈正相关，敏感性高（92.59%），特异性强（85.71%）。生存分析表明，SALL4表达是一个独立的预后因素。SALL4高表达与胶质瘤患者预后不良相关。这一结果与癌症基因组图谱数据库中胶质母细胞瘤患者SALL4表达与总生存期的负相关一致。CCK8实验表明，SALL4可显著抑制U251细胞系的细胞增殖（P<0.05）。本研究结果表明，SALL4可能在胶质瘤的进展、发生和维持中起重要作用。
