title: Immunocytochemical detection of 14-3-3 in primary nervous system tumors.
abstract: 14-3-3 proteins have attracted much recent interest in the etiopathogenesis of human cancers owing to their involvement in the prevention of apoptosis. However, the expression of 14-3-3 in primary nervous system tumors has not been previously characterized. In this paper, Immunohistochemistry using a specific anti-14-3-3 antibody was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded archival tissue from 124 primary human nervous system tumors and 10 normal brain tissues. In the normal control brains, 14-3-3 immunoreactivity was localized mainly in the neuronal somata and processes, and some glial cells showed only weak immunoreactivity. However, 14-3-3 immunoreactivity was seen in the majority of astrocytomas [grade I (9/11), II (16/21), III (13/17), IV (17/21)]. There was no difference between the positive expression rates of 14-3-3 in different grades of astrocytomas (P = 0.968). But the intensity and degree of 14-3-3 immunoreactivity in diffuse astrocytomas, anaplastic astrocytoma, and glioblastoma multiformes showed trends with tumor grade, with glioblastomas having the highest positivity (P = 0.048). The 14-3-3 immunoreactivity was also seen in the majority of other gliomas [oligodendroglioma (2/3), anaplastic oligodendroglioma (4/4), ependymoma (1/2), anaplastic ependymoma (2/2), choroid plexus papilloma (3/3), pineocytoma (2/2), medulloblastoma (5/8)]. All meningiomas [syncytical (3), fibrous/fibroblastic (4), angiomatous (4), transitional/mixed (3)] were intensely and diffusely positive. All schwannomas (4), neurofibromas (2), pituitary adenomas (6) and craniopharyngiomas(4) also showed intense positive staining. These results showed that 14-3-3 is expressed in the majority of the primary human nervous system tumors. The up-regulated expression of 14-3-3 may be a common mechanism for evading apoptosis in most primary human nervous system tumors, and targeting 14-3-3 may be a novel promising strategy for the treatment of these tumors, especially for malignant tumors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosurgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei-Dong
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jian-Ning
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhi-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hai-Ning
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Bian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dakuan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry
chemical_list: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C482982:YWHAB protein, human