ABSTRACT
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the development of several types of tumor; however, their role in spinal gliomas remains unknown. The present study aimed to identify potentially novel spinal cord gliomas (SCG)-associated miRNAs and to characterize their roles in the development and progression of SCG. miRNA expression levels in low-grade SCG (classed as stage I-II SCG based on the World Health Organization grading system), high-grade SCG (classed as stage IV SCG based on the World Health Organization grading system) and 5 control cases were measured using a miRNA expression microarray. Subsequently, blood samples from the spinal cord of patients with differing grades of SCG were screened for differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs). Compared with the control group, 7 upregulated and 36 downregulated miRNAs were identified in the low-grade SCG group and a total of 70 upregulated and 20 downregulated miRNAs were identified in the high-grade SCG group (P≤0.05, fold change >2). Gene Ontology analysis revealed that the regulation of cellular metabolic processes, negative regulation of biological processes and axon guidance were primarily involved. Moreover, pathway analysis showed that the target genes of DEmiRNAs were enriched in tumor-related signaling pathways, such as the MAPK and Wnt signaling pathway. The results suggest that DEmiRNAs in peripheral blood may serve as novel target markers with high specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of SCG.
ABSTRACT
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
ABSTRACT
Abnormal expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to glioma initiation. However, the expression of miRNAs in tumour tissue or blood of spinal cord glioma (SCG) patients, particularly in high-grade spinal gliomas (Grade IV) known as glioblastoma (GBM), remains largely unknown. In this study we aimed to determine differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) in the tissue and blood between spinal cord glioblastoma (SC-GBM) patients and low grade SCG (L-SCG) patients. Additionally, we predicted key miRNA targets and pathways that may be critical in glioma development using pathway and gene ontology analysis. A total of 74 miRNAs were determined to be differentially expressed (25 upregulated and 49 downregulated) in blood, while 207 miRNAs (20 up-regulated and 187 down-regulated) were identified in tissue samples. Gene ontology analysis revealed multicellular organism development and positive regulation of macromolecule metabolic process to be primarily involved. Pathway analysis revealed "Glioma", "Signalling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells" to be the most relevant pathways. miRNA-mRNA analysis revealed that hsa-miRNA3196, hsa-miR-27a-3p, and hsa-miR-3664-3p and their target genes are involved in cancer progression. Our study provides a molecular basis for SCG pathological grading based on differential miRNA expression.
Subject(s)
Disease Progression , Glioblastoma/metabolism , MicroRNAs/metabolism , Spinal Cord Neoplasms/metabolism , Spinal Cord/metabolism , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Cohort Studies , Female , Gene Expression Profiling , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Gene Ontology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Spinal Cord/pathologyABSTRACT
Pituitary carcinomas are rare malignant neoplasms with diagnostic and management challenges. Patients with pituitary carcinomas have extremely poor outcomes. In this report, the authors describe two cases of pituitary carcinomas with intraspinal metastasis (Case 1: 42-year-old man with a history of pituitary adenoma 16 years ago developed an intraspinal lesion at C4-C5; Case 2: 26-year-old women with a history of growth hormone-producing pituitary adenoma 9 years ago developed intraspinal lesion in the sacral canal). Both patients underwent spine surgery. The intraspinal lesions were confirmed as metastatic pituitary carcinomas based on the histomorphology and immunohistochemical stains. The authors reviewed the literature for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of intraspinal metastasis from pituitary carcinomas.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma/secondary , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/pathology , Pituitary Neoplasms/pathology , Spinal Neoplasms/secondary , Adenoma/pathology , Adult , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility and value of intra-operative contrast-enhanced ultrasound in different pathological grades of glioma. METHODS: A total of 46 patients with glioma were selected to undergo the contrast-enhanced ultrasound. They were divided into 3 groups according to their pathological grades. RESULTS: All 46 tumors were hyperechoic after examinations and the borders became much more distinct. Different level of tumors had their representative ultrasonic findings. CONCLUSIONS: Intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound is quite useful for determining the position and border of tumors. And it is also excellent in detecting the residual tumor tissues post-operatively. And it can improve the resection accuracy and operative precision, especially for Grade IV glioma with internal necrosis, cyst and surrounding brain edema.
