Transcriptional expression of glioma chemotherapy drugs associated marker molecules in gliomas and normal brain tissues

Abstract

Currently, the transcript abundance of key enzymes for chemotherapy drug metabolism, which may help in predicting the efficacy of a drug, can easily be detected in tumor tissues. However, there has been little research on the enzymes involved in the chemotherapy of gliomas. This study aimed to detect and compare the abundance of glioma chemotherapy drug-associated marker molecules in both gliomas and normal brain tissues and among gliomas of different grades. We examined the transcript abundance of four such marker molecules, MGMT, ERCC1, Topo IIα and Stathmin, in 46 glioma and 6 normal brain tissues. We also compared the abundance of these molecules in normal brain tissues and glioma tissues with different malignancy grades. Furthermore, we described the variation of these molecules in different grades of gliomas by calculating the ratio of their maximum to their minimum. The transcript abundance of MGMT and ERCC1 was significantly higher in normal brain tissues than in glioma tissues. However, the opposite result was observed for Topo IIα. For Stathmin, no significant differences between normal brain tissues and gliomas tissues were found. For all 4 marker molecules, no significant differences were detected between grades of glioma. All four molecules exhibited wide variation in abundance, fluctuating significantly between gliomas. These results suggest that individualized detection and medication may be beneficial for treatment.

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