title: Neuroglobin functions as a prognostic marker and promotes the tumor growth of glioma via suppressing apoptosis.
abstract: Neuroglobin (Ngb) has been reported to be upregulated by hypoxia and plays an anti-apoptotic function. Previous studies have reported that Ngb is expressed in human glioblastoma cells and up-regulated in hypoxic microregions of glioblastoma tumor xenografts. While, the clinical significance of Ngb and its function in human glioma keep unknown. Ngb expression was analyzed in 86 glioma tissues and 20 normal brain tissues. Results showed that Ngb was significantly overexpressed in glioma tissues compared to normal brain tissues. In addition, increased levels of Ngb also observed in glioma cell lines. Clinicopathological analysis verified that the positive expression of Ngb was associated with histological type and world health organization (WHO) grade of glioma. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier analysis found that Ngb overexpression led to a shorter survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that Ngb expression was an independent prognostic marker. Further experiments illustrated that Ngb knockdown significantly inhibited proliferation and facilitated apoptosis in U251 cells. In vivo experiments further confirmed that Ngb silencing notably prohibited the tumor growth of glioma in nude mice. While, Ngb overexpression prominently promoted proliferation and suppressed apoptosis in U87 cells. Taken together, this work support the first evidence that Ngb can be potentially used as a promising biomarker and target for novel treatment of human glioma.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurobiology, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an 710061, China; Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an 710077, China.
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Xi'an Central Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an 710003, China.
authors.forename: Mingze
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Xi'an Central Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an 710003, China.
authors.forename: Juanhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurobiology, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an 710061, China. Electronic address: liuyong_xjtu@163.com.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D005910:Glioma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000078787:Neuroglobin; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000078787:Neuroglobin; D005914:Globins
keywords: Apoptosis; Glioma; Neuroglobin; Pro-survival; Proliferation