Cellular and Molecular Characteristics of Low-Grade CNS Tumours Depicting Ki67/PI, MMP2, VEGFR, CD11b/Iba1 Modulations: Studies on Post-Operative Samples
Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
Background: The brain tumour classification of WHO in 2016 introduced molecular characterization of samples with histopathology, and that was further elaborated in 2021. Detecting the characteristic state of the tumour to promote prognostic outcome is now a key interest area of present cancer research. This work aims to explore such important aspects from the low-grade post-operative CNS tumour samples. Methods: Post-ablative samples of low-grade CNS tumours were collected from hospital with patient metadata, identified and graded histopathologically. They were characterized with selective protein expressions indicating hallmark characters of cancer like proliferation denoted by Ki67 and PI index, metastatic potency by MMP2, neovasculogenic ability by VEGFR2 and epigenetic alterations by DNMT1 and macrophage infestation by silver-gold staining, CD11b and Iba1 using immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy and flowcytometry. Results: In low-grade diffuse astrocytoma and myxopapillary ependymoma, survival and recurrence are finely tuned with an inverse relationship of proliferation and invasion with neovascularization eliciting a multivariate prognostic cue. Matrix degrading tendency found higher in less-proliferative ependymoma, indicating proliferation-invasion dichotomy. Global epigenetic changes denoted by DNMT1 found prominent in low-grade astrocytoma, higher infiltrated CD11b+ macrophages appeared in meningioma, whereas low-grade astrocytoma showed increased Iba1+ microglia. Conclusion: The study showed that even low-grade CNS tumours can elicit hallmark characteristics of cancer and distinctive features among astrocytoma, ependymoma and meningioma along with information on tumour associated macrophages using a cocktail of common markers Ki67 and PI indexing, MMP2, VEGFR2 CD11b/Iba1 and DNMT1 expressions with profound prognostic importance.