title: Mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 is a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for human glioma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Scholars have gradually come to appreciate the relevance of serine and glycine metabolism. Recently, researchers have discovered that mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2) is overexpressed in various types of cancer. However, the function of SHMT2 in glioma is not clear. In this study, we sought to examine the expression of SHMT2 in glioma, the association between SHMT2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics, and the association of SHMT2 expression with prognosis in glioma patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the expression of SHMT2, Ki67, O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), and Glutathione S Transferase pi (GST-pi) in 150 glioma patients using immunohistochemistry assays. The associations among the expression of SHMT2, clinicopathological parameters, and outcome of glioma patients were statistically analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of SHMT2 was increased in gliomas compared to normal brain tissue and gradually increased with increasing WHO grade. The SHMT2 expression was positively correlated with Ki67 expression and WHO degree (p<0.01) but was not correlated with other clinicopathological parameters, including sex, age, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), tumour diameter, MGMT, and GST-pi (p>0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression analyses showed that SHMT2 expression and the WHO grade were independent prognostic indicators for glioma patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expression of SHMT2 in glioma was significantly increased compared to normal brain tissue. SHMT2 promoted tumour proliferation, and there was no association between SHMT2 and drug resistance mechanisms of glioma. SHMT2 may be a novel and valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of glioma and an independent prognostic parameter of glioma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cerebrovascular Disease and Neurodegenerative Disease, Tianjin Neurosurgical Institute, 6 Jizhao Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cerebrovascular Disease and Neurodegenerative Disease, Tianjin Neurosurgical Institute, 6 Jizhao Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital, 6 Jizhao Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: ZhiZhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital, 6 Jizhao Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: XueBin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital, 6 Jizhao Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University, General Hospital, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Injuries, Variations and Regeneration of Nervous System, Tianjin Neurological Institute, 154 Anshan Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Tianjin NanKai Hospital, 6 Changjiang Road, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tianjin HuanHu Hospital, 6 Jizhao Road, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: submissionpaper@sina.com.
authors.forename: XiaoLing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatic Biliary Pancreatic Surgery, Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, 127 Dongming Road, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000378:metabolism*; D012696:Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012696:Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase; C520541:SHMT protein, human
keywords: Glioma; Mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2); Oncology; Prognosis