Immunohistochemical staining for ganglioside GD1b as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for primary human brain tumors

Abstract

Immunohistochemical staining intensity for ganglioside GD1b was determined for 108 human neuroectodermal tumors. Most of the tissue elements that immunostained were tumor cells; only a few axons and occasional neurons reacted in some specimens. All pilocytic astrocytomas stained very positively, whereas none of the ependymomas and only 11% of primitive neuroectodermal tumors, 20% of glioblastomas, and 28% of anaplastic astrocytomas showed more than faint staining. A similar association between grade and immunostaining was seen in tumors containing an oligodendrogliomatous component, but reactivity was not as strong as in astrocytic tumors or primitive neuroectodermal tumors. Results of Cox regression showed signi cant associations between immunostaining intensity and survival for all cases taken together (P = 0.007); for the group consisting of astrocytomas, oligoastrocytomas, and oligodendrogliomas (P = 0.002); and for astrocytomas alone (P = 0.04). Results were also signi cant using a proportional hazards model controlling for patient age (all cases P = 0.005; astrocytomas only P = 0.02), but not when controlling for tumor grade. Our results indicate that immunohistochemical staining for GD1b is correlated with tumor grade and that it may be of prognostic utility in some primary human brain tumors, especially astrocytomas. Neuro-Oncology 1, 261-267, 1999 (Posted to Neuro-Oncology [serial online], Doc. 98-27, September 9, 1999

Focused microarray analysis of glyco‐gene expression in human glioblastomas

“…There are many reports of aberrant cell-surface glycoconjugate expression in brain tumors. These include altered ganglioside expression (Traylor and Hogan 1980;Fredman et al 1986;Jennemann et al 1990Jennemann et al , 1994Wikstrand et al 1991;Shinoura et al 1992;Chang et al 1997;Comas et al 1999;Hamasaki et al 1999;Markowska-Woyciechowska et al 2000;Pan et al 2000;Popko et al 2002;Mennel and Lell 2005), tumor cell-associated ganglioside shedding (Ladisch et al 1987Nakamura et al 1991;Li et al 1996), b1-integrins, and N-CAM (Paulus et al 1996;Gratsa et al 1997). For recent reviews, see Fredman et al (2003), Fish (1996), Pilkington (1992), Yates (1988) and Mikkelsen et al (1998).…”