title: Expression of nestin and vimentin in gliomatosis cerebri.
abstract: Gliomatosis cerebri (GC) is a rare form of CNS neoplasia in which there is diffuse involvement of the nervous tissue with or without the presence of tumor mass. The origin of the tumor is unknown, nor whether it represents a disease with diffuse onset or infiltration from a neoplastic focus. Here we studied the histopathologic characteristics of 6 cases with a diagnosis of GC and performed an immunohistochemical analysis using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), synaptophysin, nestin and vimentin. Most tumor cells were negative for GFAP, even though there were foci of positivity for this marker in all cases. We detected the presence of many positive cells for nestin and vimentin in all studied samples. The presence of these cells may indicate origin of the tumor from undifferentiated cells with a high degree of mobility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphological Sciences, Fundação Faculdade Federal de Ciências Médicas de Porto Alegre, UFRGS, Rua Sarmento Leite 245, 90050-170 Porto Alegre RS, Brazil. hilbiga@fffcmpa.edu.br
authors.forename: Arlete
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hilbig
authors.forename: Lígia Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Barbosa-Coutinho
authors.forename: Nadima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toscani
authors.forename: Marlise de Castro
authors.initials: Mde C
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Bartira Silveira Campos
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: da Cunha
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D064231:Nestin; D016708:Synaptophysin / Q000032:analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014746:Vimentin / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; C577484:NES protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D064231:Nestin; D016708:Synaptophysin; D014746:Vimentin