Expression Of Galectin-3 And Cathepsin-D In Human Astrocytoma And Its Significance

Objective: Glioma is the most common tumor in human brain tumor, about 40%~60% of brain tumor, above 60% of which is astrocytoma. The obvious character of astrocytoma is its invasion and high reoccurance .It is important to be early detected and rationally classfied for treatment. We examine the expression of Galectin-3 and Cathepsin-D in brain astrocytoma and discuss the relationship between invasion and clinical pathology classification.Methods: Expression of Galectin-3 and Cathepsin-D were examined in 60 specimens of astrocytoma and 10 normal brain tissues with immunohistochemical technique.Results: (1) The rate of expression of Galectin-3 in astrocytoma was 85%, but negative in all of the normal brain tissues. The positive galaectin-3 immunostaining significantly increased with the degree of malignancy increase. There was significant different in different WHO grade. (2)It demonstrates that the Cathepsin-D cytosol staining is in 48 cases (80%) of the brain gliomas and normal neuron, but negative in all of the normal astrocyte. There were significant difference in positive rate and the number of positive cells in different WHO grade. (3)There was maybe certain relation between Galectin-3 and Cathepsin-D.Conclusion: (l)There is a relationship between the expression level and WHO grade. Galectin-3 is an important index in classification of degree of malignancy. (2)The dysfunction and overexpression of Cathepsin-D may be involved in the development and invasion of golioma. The level of expression will contribute to clinical diagnose and prognosis.