Cathepsin L in glioma progression: comparison with cathepsin B.
OBJECTIVE
Lysosomal cysteine cathepsins have been implicated in tumor progression. This study is aimed to reveal differential expression and compare the prognostic significance of cathepsins B and L in glioma patients.


METHODS
The histological slides of 82 patients with primary astrocytic tumors were reviewed. We evaluated the immunostaining of the cathepsins in tumor and endothelial cells.


RESULTS
Cathepsins B and L stained positive in 98 and 88% of cases, respectively. The total score was significantly higher in malignant than in benign tumors, both for cathepsin B (p<0.001) and for cathepsin L (p<0.01). The IHC score in endothelial cells in the malignant group was significantly higher only for cathepsin B (p<0.0001). Survival analysis indicated that in contrast to the prognostic significance of total cathepsin B and endothelial cells associated cathepsin B for shorter patients' survival, the prognostic role of cathepsin L was not confirmed.


CONCLUSIONS
Cathepsin L is preferentially expressed in tumor cells, increasing with glioma progression, but is not significantly associated with new vasculature of glioblastoma. In contrast to cathepsin B, cathepsin L has no prognostic impact, suggesting different roles of the two cathepsins in glioma progression.
Strojnik
Tadej
T
Department of Neurosurgery, Maribor General Hospital, Ljubljanska 5, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia. strojnik@siol.net
Kavalar
Rajko
R
Trinkaus
Miha
M
Lah
Tamara T
TT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D002401:Cathepsin B / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000502:physiology*; D056668:Cathepsin L; D002403:Cathepsins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000502:physiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005910:Glioma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
D002403:Cathepsins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D002401:Cathepsin B; C534281:CTSL protein, human; D056668:Cathepsin L