title: High c-Cbl expression in gliomas is associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis.
abstract: Casitas B-lineage lymphoma (c-Cbl) expression has been linked to the development of several types of cancer. However, no studies on the association of c-Cbl and glioma have been published thus far. The present study examined glioma samples obtained from 136 patients treated at The First Hospital of China Medical University (Shenyang, China) from January 2007 to December 2009, and the expression levels of c-Cbl in the samples were evaluated by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated and subjected to Cox regression analysis. The messenger RNA and protein levels of c-Cbl were observed to be upregulated in high-grade glioma, compared with low-grade glioma. A multivariate analysis revealed that the protein levels of c-Cbl were independently associated with overall survival [hazard ratio (HR)=4.923, 95% confidence interval (CI)=3.163-7.662; P<0.001]. Furthermore, the grade of the glioma (according to the World Health Organization criteria) was observed to be independent prognostic factors for progression-free survival and overall survival time (HR=8.842, 95% CI=7.827-9.989; P<0.001, and HR=10.247, 95% CI=9.009-11.655; P<0.001, respectively). Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test indicated that high protein expression levels of c-Cbl were significantly associated with overall and progression-free survival (P<0.001). To the best of our knowledge, these results provide the first evidence that the overexpression of c-Cbl is correlated with advanced clinicopathological features and poor prognosis in patients with glioma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhitao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Minghao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Z I
authors.initials: ZI
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Y E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: c-Cbl; glioma; prognosis; tumor progression