| BACKGROUND AND OBJECTMeningiomas are generally considered to be benign, and can be surgically resected with great success in most cases, but in some circumstances these tumors can pose some of the most difficult questions. Tumor invasiveness and the presence of peritumoral edema are two major factors that govern the clinical management of meningiomas, which affect directly prognosis of these tumor and cause the recurrence of meningiomas. Angiogenesis plays crucial role in tumor-associated edema, invasion and other behaviors. However, despite many years of research and experience, we still lack reliable indicators of prognosis and aggression for these tumors, and little is known thus far about angiogenic mechanisms in meningiomas. MMP-9 is one member of MMPs family, which is involved in the processes of degradation of collagen Type IV, a key component of basement membrane, and other extracelluar matrix constituents, and contribute to tumor malignant conversion, aggressiveness, distant dissemination, and angiogenesis. The p53 gene is the most common suppressor gene involved in multifarious tumor development and progression, including meningiomas, and previous investigation has focused on the relationships between p53 expression and malignant proliferation. The roles of MMP-9 and p53 in angiogenesis, invasiveness, and pertimoral edema of meningiomas, and the relationships between MMP-9 and p53 in meningiomas, have received little attention in domestic and foreign literatures. Inthe current study, we analyzed the expression of MMP-9 and p53 protein in meningiomas, and investigated how their expression relates to histological grade, angiogenesis, and radiological findings in meningiomas. Furthermore, this investigation was also to devise a new strategy for understanding the biological behavior, predicting the prognosis, and antiangiogenic remedy of meningiomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS1. A total of 52 meningioma patients, who have comfired pathology and data integrity of clime and radiological image, underwent neurosurgical procedures at the Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affilated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, from Jan 1995 to Feb 2003. The histological distribution in the group studied was 25 benign (WHO Grade I, including 5 meningothelial, 5 fibrous, 5 transitional, 5 psammomatous and 5 angiomatous), 14 atypical (WHO Grade II), and 13 anaplastic/malignant (WHO Grade III) meningiomas.2. In 52 cases of patients and the pre-operative CT/MRI, the patient's condition, the resection grade(Simpson), tumor histopathology, and aggressive behavior were evaluated.3. Streptavidin-Peroxidase (S-P) immunohistochemistry technique was usd to detect the expression of MMP-9 protein, p53protein, and factor VIII-related antigen in 52 meningiomas.4. Statistical analysis was performed by the SPSS 10.0 software package. Values werecalculated as means + standard deviation ( x + s ) . Differences among groups were analyzed by using Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U test, One-Way ANOVA, the Chi-squared test, and Student t test. Associations between two variables were assessed by the Spearman correlation test. All of the P values resulted from two-sided statistical test. Satistically significant level was considered as "alpha equals 0.05". RESULTS1. In 52 specimens of meningiomas, the total positive rates of MMP-9, p53 protein were 90.38%(47/52), 34.62%(18/52) respectively, and the average MVD was 28.40 in all specimens. The expression level of MMP-9, p53 protein and MVD were closely correlated with histopathological grade of meningiomas (P<0.05). However, MVD and the expression level of p53 protein were no significant difference between atypical meningiomas and anaplastic meningiomas (P>0.05), but p53 protein expression and MVD in two groups were significantly higher than that in benign meningiomas (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the expression level of MMP-9, p53 protein and MVD among histopathological variations(P<0.05).2. There was significant association between the e... |
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