. 2015 Apr 7;35(6):1561–1573. doi: 10.3892/ijmm.2015.2173

Table I.

Protein expression of ATF3, maspin and MMP2 in normal brain tissues and glioma tissues of each grade.

	n	ATF3 n (%)	Maspin n (%)	MMP2 n (%)
Normal brain tissues	13	2 (15.4)	13 (100)	1 (7.7)
Gliomas tissues	100	72 (72)^a	53 (53)^a	76 (76)^a
WHO grading
I	15	4 (26.7)	12 (80)^a	4 (26.7)
II	32	18 (56.3)^a	22 (78.1)^a	20 (62.5)^a
III	30	28 (93.3)^a	13 (43.3)^a	29 (90.6)^a
IV	23	22 (95.7)^a	6 (26.1)^a	23 (100)^a

Positive expression status of ATF3, maspin and MMP2 in normal brain tissues and glioma tissues was assayed by immunohistochemistry (numbers in parentheses indicate positive rates, numbers outside parentheses indicate positive case numbers). The positive protein expression levels of ATF3 and MMP2 in the glioma tissues were significantly higher than those in normal brain tissues (72 and 76%, respectively, P<0.05), but the positive protein expression rate of maspin in the glioma tissue was lower than that in the normal brain tissue (53%, P<0.05). In grade II–IV gliomas, the expression of ATF3 and MMP2 was higher than that in normal brain tissue (P<0.05). In all grades of glioma tissue, maspin protein expression was lower than that in normal brain tissue (P<0.05).

Significant differences compared with normal brain tissue (P<0.05). ATF3, activating transcription factor 3; MMP2, matrix metalloproteinase 2.