title: FBLN4as candidate gene associated with long-term and short-term survival with primary glioblastoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant and lethal type of primary central nervous system tumor in humans. In spite of its high lethality, a small percentage of patients have a relatively good prognosis, with median survival times of 36 months or longer. The identification of clinical subsets of GBM associated with distinct molecular genetic profiles has made it possible to design therapies tailored to treat individual patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared microarray data sets from long-term survivors (LTSs) and short-term survivors (STSs) to screen for prognostic biomarkers in GBM patients using the WebArrayDB platform. We focused onFBLN4,IGFBP-2, andCHI3L1, all members of a group of 10 of the most promising, differentially regulated gene candidates. Using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded GBM samples, we corroborated the relationship between these genes and patient outcomes using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) forMGMTmethylation status and quantitative reverse transcription PCR for expression of these genes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expression levels of the mRNAs of these 3 genes were higher in the GBM samples than in normal brain samples and these 3 genes were significantly upregulated in STSs compared to the levels in LTS samples (P<0.01). Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the expression patterns ofFBLN4andIGFBP-2serve as independent prognostic indicators for overall survival (P<0.01 andP<0.05, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first report describingFBLN4as a prognostic factor for GBM patient survival, demonstrating that increased GBM survival time correlates with decreasedFBLN4expression. UnderstandingFBLN4expression patterns could aid in the creation of powerful tools to predict clinical prognoses of GBM patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Fubin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Kewei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Yujia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Norman Bethune College of Medicine.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Honghua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Jinxiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the Second Clinical Hospital.
authors.forename: Songtian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Che
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the Fourth Clinical Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhenju
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery of the First Clinical Hospital; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California - Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bie
keywords: FBLN4; IGFBP-2; glioblastoma; prognosis; tumor marker