title: Brachyury: A sensitive marker, but not a prognostic factor, for skull base chordomas.
abstract: Patients with skull base chordomas have a poor prognosis, and the role of the protein expression of brachyury in chordomas remains to be fully elucidated. The present study used immunohistochemistry to analyze 57 cases of skull base chordoma, and analyzed the clinical data of the patients. The results demonstrated that the protein expression of brachyury was negative in 8.8% (5/57) of the cases. The weak/positive, positive and strong/positive rates were 5.3% (3/57), 21.1% (12/57) and 64.9% (37/57), respectively. The association between the expression of brachyury and recurrence was not statistically significant. Kaplan‑Meier analysis revealed that the degree of surgery, rather than the expression of brachyury, was associated with tumor recurrence (P=0.001). In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that the expression of Brachyury offers a sensitive marker, but not a risk factor, for skull base chordomas, and radical surgery is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Kaibing
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shuyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Beijing Neurosurgery Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Beijing Neurosurgery Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Beijing Neurosurgery Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Guijun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Liwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Skull Base and Brainstem Tumor Division, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Junting
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002817:Chordoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005326:Fetal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult; D000098908:Brachyury Protein
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005326:Fetal Proteins; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D000098908:Brachyury Protein