HUlip, a human homologue of unc-33-like phosphoprotein of Caenorhabditis elegans; Immunohistochemical localization in the developing human brain and patterns of expression in nervous system tumors.
HUlip is a human homologue of a C. elegans gene, unc-33, that is developmentally regulated during maturation of the nervous system. HUlip is highly expressed only in the fetal brain and spinal cord, and is undetected in the adult brain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pattern of hUlip expression in the developing human brain and nervous system tumors. Ten human brains at different developmental stages and 118 cases of nervous system tumor tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry. Twelve related tumor cell lines were also analyzed by northern blotting and immunoblotting. HUlip was expressed in late fetal and early postnatal brains; strongly in the neurons of the brain stem, basal ganglia/thalamus, and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, and relatively weakly in the cerebral and cerebellar cortex. Among tumors, hUlip expression was easily detected in tumor cells undergoing neuronal differentiation such as ganglioneuroblastomas and ganglioneuromas. Furthermore, hUlip immunoreactivity was also found in various brain tumors showing neuronal differentiation: central neurocytomas (6 of 6 cases were positive), medulloblastomas (5/11), atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (1/1) and gangliogliomas (4/7). Some astrocytic tumors also showed weak positivity: astrocytomas (1 of 5 cases), anaplastic astrocytomas (2/5), and glioblastomas (3/11). Subependymal giant cell astrocytomas and subependymomas, which are of controversial histogenetic origin, showed strong hUlip immunoreactivity. The results of this study indicate that the expression of hUlip protein is distinctly restricted to the late fetal and early postnatal periods of human nervous system development and to certain subsets of nervous system tumors. The exact function of hUlip needs to be further clarified; yet the results of our study strongly imply that hUlip function is important in human nervous system development and its aberrant expression in various types of nervous system tumors suggests a role of hUlip as an oncofetal neural antigen.
Choi
Yoon-La
YL
Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea.
Kim
Chong Jai
CJ
Matsuo
Tatsuya
T
Gaetano
Carlo
C
Falconi
Rita
R
Suh
Yeon-Lim
YL
Kim
Seok-Hyung
SH
Shin
Young Kee
YK
Park
Seong Hoe
SH
Chi
Je Geun
JG
Thiele
Carol J
CJ
D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
C102926:DPYSL3 protein, human; D009124:Muscle Proteins