title: NGAL and NGALR are frequently overexpressed in human gliomas and are associated with clinical prognosis.
abstract: Recently, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and its cell surface receptor, NGALR, have been shown to have critical roles in the biology of various tumors. Therefore, we investigated the expression of NGAL and NGALR in tumor sections obtained from patients with gliomas, and compared these results with the clinical characteristics of the patients. Using immunohistochemical assays, the expression levels of NGAL and NGALR were found to be up-regulated in tumor tissues, and to be related to tumor grade (p < 0.001). A positive correlation between expression of the two markers was also observed in these assays (r = 0.849; p < 0.001). Overexpression of NGAL and NGALR in glioma tissues was also confirmed in western blot analysis and real-time quantitative RT-PCR assays. Furthermore, overexpression of NGAL and NGALR was found to be significantly associated with poor prognosis (p < 0.001 in each case). Multivariate analysis identified patient age, tumor grade, and expression levels of NGAL and NGALR to be independent prognostic factors. In particular, NGAL(2+)/NGALR(2+) tissues were associated with lower rates of survival (risk ratio, 1.378; 95% CI, 1.102-1.724; p = 0.005). These findings suggest that NGAL and NGALR expression are frequently up-regulated in gliomas, and are closely associated with poor clinical outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Shantou Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Shantou, China. stlmf1163@sina.com
authors.forename: Ming-Fa
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jin-Hui
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhong-Ying
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhi-Chao
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zeng-Liang
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li-Yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: En-Min
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hai-Xiong
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology*; D005910:Glioma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D027701:Organic Cation Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; C489506:LCN2 protein, human; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins; D027701:Organic Cation Transport Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C518841:SLC22A17 protein, human