Expression And Function Of Midkine And Pleiotrophin In Meningiomas

PART â… Expression of midkine and pleiotrophin and their receptors inmeningiomasMeningiomas are the second most common tumors of the central nervous system. Most patients with meningiomas have good quality of life in contrast to the patients with malignant astrocytoma. However, reviews of large patient groups reveal that this optimistic view is not always satisfying. The recent improvements in the molecular biology and genetics of meningiomas may enhance the abilities to predict prognosis and to develop targeted therapies to improve outcomes in patients with clinically aggressive meningiomas. The family of heparin-binding neurotrophic factors consists of only two members, namely heparin-binding growth factors midkine (MDK) and pleiotrophin (PTN). MDK and PTN are overexpressed in various tumors. They promote the growth, survival, and migration of tumor cells, and play roles in the cancer development. Moreover, employing MDK and PTN as molecular targets for cancer would provide a new avenue for cancer therapy. Since not much is known about the relationship between midkine, pleiotrophin, and meningiomas, the purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of midkine and pleiotrophin and their receptors in meningiomas.1. Materials and Methods1) Clinical materialThe meningioma tissues were collected from 62 patients. The patients included 42 women and 20 men. Thirty-three tumors corresponded to benign meningiomas of WHO grade I, 26 tumors were atypical meningiomas of WHO grade II and 3 were anaplastic meningiomas of WHO grade III. Five normal dura tissues served as control.2) RNA IsolationRNA was isolated by TRIzoL Reagent. RNA concentrations were quantified by spectrophotometer.3) cDNA SynthesisRNase free DNase was used to destroy the contaminating genomic DNA interfering with RT-PCR experiments. For first strand synthesis, the mixture was added to random hexamer primer, 5x reaction buffer, 4 dNTP mix and RevertAid? H Minus M-MuLV Reverse Transcriptase, respectively and incubated at different temperature and duration.4) Real-time RT-PCRReal-time RT-PCR was performed in three replicates of each sample which contained 20xAssays-on-Demand? Gene Expression Assay Mix, 2>