title: Is CRX protein a useful marker in differential diagnosis of tumors of the pineal region?
abstract: The cone-rod homeobox (CRX) is a gene that belongs to the member of the orthodenticle homeobox (Otx) family, with important function in development and differentiation of retinal and pineal cells. Moreover, CRX appears to be specifically expressed in pineal tumors and retinoblastomas. We performed an immunohistochemical study on 91 pediatric and adult central nervous system tumors, plus 2 normal brain samples. Our results demonstrated that CRX is expressed not only in pineal parenchymal tumors and retinoblastoma, but also in a some medulloblastomas and supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors. None of the glial tumors screened were positive for CRX. In conclusion, CRX could be useful in surgical neuropathology for the differential diagnosis of pineal region tumors, in particular to discriminate pineal tumors from glial tumors.
authors.affiliation: 1   Department of Radiological, Oncological and Anatomo-Pathological Sciences, Sapienza University Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonelli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manila
authors.forename: Novello
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mariangela
authors.forename: Lauriola
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Libero
authors.forename: Gianno
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Francesca
authors.forename: Buttarelli Francesca
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Romana
authors.forename: Giangaspero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Felice
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D018242:Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; C109288:cone rod homeobox protein
keywords: CRX protein; pineal tumor; pineoblastoma