Objectives: Ineffective surgical and radiotherapy of glioblastoma is mainly due to its intensive infiltrating behavior. Contrarily, brain metastases of anaplastic carcinomas are well-circumscribed intracerebral lesions that can be easily exstirpated in most cases. The molecules of the extracellular matrix (ECM) play a pivotal role in the peritumoral infiltration. In this study the mRNA expression of the ECM components was investigated in two types of intracerebral malignoma with different invasion activity. Our aim was to identify the ECM molecules that are responsible for the different intensity of peritumoral infiltration of tumors from different origin.
Methods: The mRNA expression of twenty-three ECM molecules was determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Four pieces of glioblastoma and four pieces of intracerebral lung adenocarcinoma metastasis from neurosurgical operation were investigated. Immunohistochemical investigations were performed in case of five molecules.
Results: The mRNA expression of nine molecules (brevican, neurocan, neuroglycan-C, syndecan-1,2,4, tenascin-C, versican and matrix-metalloproteinase-[MMP]2) differed significantly by comparison of the two tumor types. By immunohistochemistry, neurocan, syndecan, versican and MMP-2 showed alteration in staining intensity according to the mRNA expression, while MMP-9 showed higher staining intensity in the metastatic tumor.
Conclusions: The identified molecules can play an important role in the different infiltration activity of tumors from different origin. Thus these ECM-components could serve as targets for anti-invasion therapy in the future.