Aberrant membranous expression of β -catenin predicts poor prognosis in patients with craniopharyngioma

• Published in: Annals of diagnostic pathology 2015-12, Vol.19 (6), p.403-408
• Main Authors: Li, Zongping, MD, Xu, Jianguo, MD, Huang, Siqing, MD, You, Chao, MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; beta Catenin - metabolism; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Cell Membrane - pathology; Child; Child, Preschool; Craniopharyngioma; Craniopharyngioma - metabolism; Craniopharyngioma - mortality; Craniopharyngioma - pathology; CTNNB1 gene; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Male; Middle Aged; Pathology; Pituitary Neoplasms - metabolism; Pituitary Neoplasms - mortality; Pituitary Neoplasms - pathology; Prognosis; Survival Rate; Young Adult; β-Catenin
• ISSN: 1092-9134; 1532-8198
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anndiagpath.2015.10.002

Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate β -catenin expression in craniopharyngioma patients and determine its significance in predicting the prognosis of this disease. Fifty craniopharyngioma patients were enrolled in this study. Expression of β -catenin in tumor specimens collected from these patients was examined through immunostaining. In addition, mutation of exon 3 in the β -catenin gene, CTNNB1 , was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction, denaturing high-pressure liquid chromatography, and DNA sequencing. Based on these results, we explored the association between membranous β -catenin expression, clinical and pathologic characteristics, and prognoses in these patients. Of all craniopharyngioma specimens, 31 (62.0%) had preserved membranous β -catenin expression, whereas the remaining 19 specimens (38.0%) displayed aberrant expression. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between aberrant membranous β -catenin expression and CTNNB1 exon 3 mutation, as well as between aberrant membranous β -catenin expression and the histopathologic type of craniopharyngioma and type of resection in our patient population. Furthermore, aberrant membranous β -catenin expression was found to be associated with poor patient survival. Results of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis further confirmed this finding. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that aberrant membranous β -catenin expression was significantly correlated with poor survival in patients with craniopharyngioma. This raises the possibility for use of aberrant membranous β -catenin expression as an independent risk factor in predicting the prognosis of this disease.