title: Aberrant membranous expression of β-catenin predicts poor prognosis in patients with craniopharyngioma.
abstract: The objective of this study is to investigate β-catenin expression in craniopharyngioma patients and determine its significance in predicting the prognosis of this disease. Fifty craniopharyngioma patients were enrolled in this study. Expression of β-catenin in tumor specimens collected from these patients was examined through immunostaining. In addition, mutation of exon 3 in the β-catenin gene, CTNNB1, was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction, denaturing high-pressure liquid chromatography, and DNA sequencing. Based on these results, we explored the association between membranous β-catenin expression, clinical and pathologic characteristics, and prognoses in these patients. Of all craniopharyngioma specimens, 31 (62.0%) had preserved membranous β-catenin expression, whereas the remaining 19 specimens (38.0%) displayed aberrant expression. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between aberrant membranous β-catenin expression and CTNNB1 exon 3 mutation, as well as between aberrant membranous β-catenin expression and the histopathologic type of craniopharyngioma and type of resection in our patient population. Furthermore, aberrant membranous β-catenin expression was found to be associated with poor patient survival. Results of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis further confirmed this finding. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that aberrant membranous β-catenin expression was significantly correlated with poor survival in patients with craniopharyngioma. This raises the possibility for use of aberrant membranous β-catenin expression as an independent risk factor in predicting the prognosis of this disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China. Electronic address: lizongping2014@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zongping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Siqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: You
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003397:Craniopharyngioma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051176:beta Catenin
keywords: CTNNB1 gene; Craniopharyngioma; Prognosis; β-Catenin