Analysis of cell death inducing gene in human malignant gliomas

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Cysteine proteases of caspase family (interleukin-1 beta -converting enzyme) have been implicated as components of cell death pathway and have been reported to involved in Fas, chemotherapeutic agents, and radiation-induced apoptosis. In this study, I assessed the expression of Caspase-1, Caspase-2 and Caspase-3 in 11 cases of primary astrocytic tumors ( five anaplastic astrocytomas, and six glioblastomas) by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, Western blot analysis, immunohistochemistry, and in situ casspase-3 activity assay. The frequency of Caspase-1, Caspase-2 and Caspase-3 overexpression appears to correlate with the malignancy grade of astrocytic brain tumors. Furthermore, Caspase-2 and Caspase-3 overexpression and Caspase-3 activation may play an important role in the pathogenesis of necrosis, which is one of the histological hallmarks of glioblastoma.