title: FABP4 is a candidate marker of cerebellar liponeurocytomas.
abstract: Cerebellar liponeurocytoma (cLPN) is a very rare central nervous system (CNS) tumour recently recognized as a clinical and pathological entity distinct from medulloblastoma (MB), and included in the WHO classification of CNS tumours under the heading "glioneuronal tumours". cLPN typically develop in adult age and have a favourable prognosis compared with MB. In this work, we reviewed the clinical and neuroradiological data of two novel cases of adult cLPN diagnosed at our institution; one patient developed distant metastases. We tried to identify novel molecular markers for this malignancy. We found that the transcription factor NEUROG1 (but not ATOH1) is expressed in cLPN, unlike normal adult cerebellum, and that fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4), typically found in adipocytes, is significantly overexpressed compared with both normal adult cerebellum and human MB. These findings suggest cLPN occur as a result of transformation of cerebellar progenitors, which are distinct from cerebellar granule progenitors, and aberrantly differentiate into adipocyte-like tumour cells. They also suggest that analysis of FABP4 expression is of help to differentiate cLPN from MB.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Molecular Neuro-oncology, Fondazione IRCCS C. Besta, Via Celoria 11, 20133, Milan, Italy. anghileri.e@istituto-besta.it
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anghileri
authors.forename: Marica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eoli
authors.forename: Rosina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paterra
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferroli
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pollo
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cuccarini
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maderna
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tringali
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salsano
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Finocchiaro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008067:Lipoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D018306:Neurocytoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C493410:FABP4 protein, human; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger