Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0017636 (glioblastoma)
 18,345 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Diffusely infiltrating low-grade astrocytomas (WHO grade II) have an intrinsic tendency for progression to anaplastic astrocytoma (WHO grade III) and glioblastoma (WHO grade IV). This change is due to the sequential acquisition of genetic alterations, several of which have recently been identified. In low-grade astrocytomas, p53 mutations with or without loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 17p are the principal detectable change. Anaplastic astrocytomas contain p53 mutations at an overall incidence of 34% and, in addition, loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 19q and frequent homozygous deletion of the p16 tumor suppressor (MTS-1) gene. The most malignant astrocytic neoplasms, the glioblastoma, further shows loss of chromosome 10 and amplification of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) gene at overall incidences of 66% and 34%, respectively. The type and distribution of p53 mutations in astrocytic brain tumours are not suggestive of specific environmental carcinogens operative in their aetiology. Analysis of 91 families with p53 germline mutations reported to date show that tumours of the nervous system account to 12% of all neoplasms. Of a total of 57 brain tumours reported, 30 were classified histologically and of these, 73% were of astrocytic origin. The observation that somatic p53 mutations in sporadic brain tumours are largely restricted to those of astrocytic origin and that astrocytomas also prevail among CNS neoplasms associated with p53 germline mutation strongly suggests, that p53 mutations are capable of initiating neoplastic transformation in astrocytes of the human nervous system.
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PMID:Genetic alterations associated with the evolution and progression of astrocytic brain tumours. 758 39

We have used molecular genetic methods to examine the status of cell cycle-inhibitory genes in human brain tumors. We found that p16 and a neighboring gene, p15, were often homozygously deleted in glioblastoma multiformes but not in medulloblastomas or ependymomas. The deletions occurred in both primary tumors and their derived xenografts, but no intragenic mutations in either of the two genes were found. The p15 gene was expressed in a more widespread pattern in normal tissues than p16, but the products of both genes had similar capacities to bind to cyclin D-dependent kinases 4 and 6. These data suggest that the target of deletion in glioblastoma multiforme includes both p15 and p16 genes. The reason that homozygous deletions, rather than intragenic mutations, are so common in these tumors may be that deletion is a more efficient mechanism for simultaneous inactivation of both genes.
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PMID:Deletion of p16 and p15 genes in brain tumors. 798 28

We have investigated the status of the MTS2 gene, encoding the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p15, in 32 glioblastomas. Semi-quantitative PCR identified 7 tumors in which the amplified material was 18.6% of controls and 7 in which was 48.0%, suggesting the occurrence of homozygous and hemizygous deletions, respectively. Single strand conformation polymorphism analysis identified one polymorphism but no mutations. We also expressed MTS2 and MTS1, encoding the contiguous and highly homologous CDK inhibitor p16, in U-87 human glioblastoma cells. Both genes, either separately or in combination, inhibit significantly the proliferation rate of U-87 cells but such inhibition is progressively lost. As a whole, the data assign a tumor suppressor role to p15 and confirm homozygous deletions as the favorite mechanism for the inactivation of MTS1 and MTS2 in glioblastomas.
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PMID:Deletion and transfection analysis of the p15/MTS2 gene in malignant gliomas. 852 10

We describe the construction and characterization of retroviral vectors and packaging plasmids that produce helper-free retrovirus with titers of 1 X 10(6) to 5 X 10(6) within 48 h. These vectors contain the immediate early region of the human cytomegalovirus enhancer-promoter fused to the Moloney murine leukemia virus long terminal repeat at the TATA box in the 5' U3 region, yielding the pCL promoter. By selecting vectors designed to express genes from one of four promoters (dihydrofolate reductase, Rous sarcoma virus, long terminal repeat, or cytomegalovirus), the pCL system permits the investigator to control the level of gene expression in target cells over a 100-fold range, while maintaining uniformly high titers of virus from transiently transfected producer cells. The pCL packaging plasmids lack a packaging signal (delta-psi) and include an added safety modification that renders them self-inactivating through the deletion of the 3' U3 enhancer. Ecotropic, amphotropic (4070A), and amphotropic-mink cell focus-forming hybrid (10A1) envelope constructions have been prepared and tested, permitting flexible selection of vector pseudotype in accordance with experimental needs. Vector supernatants are free of helper virus and are of sufficiently high titer within 2 days of transient transfection in 293 cells to permit infection of more than 50% of randomly cycling target cells in culture. We demonstrated the efficacy of these vectors by using them to transfer three potent cell cycle control genes (the p16(INK4A), p53, and Rb1 genes) into human glioblastoma cells.
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PMID:The pCL vector system: rapid production of helper-free, high-titer, recombinant retroviruses. 876 92

p16INK4a is a inhibitory protein of Cyclin-dependent kinase 4(Cdk4).p16 negatively regulates the cell cycle progression from G1 to S phase. Functional p16 is absent from many human cancers, as well as from many established lines of tumor cells. However, it is not clear whether expression of p16 in p16-deficient tumor cells can suppress their anchorage-independent growth. Therefore, we introduced a cDNA for p16INK4a into the human glioblastoma cell line T98G, which lacks a gene for p16INK4a. We isolated several clones that stably expressed various amounts of p16 protein. The doubling time of the various clones was generally prolonged. Clones with high-level expression of p16 protein had characteristics of restricted growth, such as contact inhibition, while the parental T98G cells had no such characteristics. Furthermore, the efficiency of colony formation in soft agar was dramatically decreased in the case of cells that expressed exogenous p16. Our observations suggest that the expression of p16 protein restricts the unbounded growth and the anchorage-independent growth of tumor cells.
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PMID:Expression of p16INK4a suppresses the unbounded and anchorage-independent growth of a glioblastoma cell line that lacks p16INK4a. 907 Aug 85

Glioblastomas (GBMs) are a heterogeneous group of tumors. Recently, distinct molecular genetic alterations have been linked to subgroups of patients with GBM. Giant cell (gc)GBMs are a rare variant of GBM characterized by a marked preponderance of multinucleated giant cells. Several reports have associated this entity with a more favorable prognosis than the majority of GBMs. To evaluate whether gcGBM may also represent a genetically defined subgroup of GBM, we analyzed a series of 19 gcGBMs for mutations in the TP53 gene for amplification of the EGFR and CDK4 genes and for homozygous deletions in the CDKN2A (p16/MTS1) gene. Seventeen of nineteen gcGBMs carried TP53 mutations whereas EGFR and CDK4 gene amplification was seen in only one tumor each and homozygous deletion of CDKN2A was not observed at all. The strikingly high incidence of TP53 mutations and the relative absence of other genetic alterations groups gcGBM together with a previously recognized molecular genetic variant of GBM (type 1 GBM). It is tempting to speculate that the better prognosis of gcGBM patients may result from the low incidence of EGFR amplification and CDKN2A deletion, changes known for their growth-promoting potential.
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PMID:Molecular genetic analysis of giant cell glioblastomas. 928 34

The p16INK4a gene product acts as a negative regulator of the cell cycle by binding to cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 4 and 6, thereby inhibiting the formation of an active CDK/cyclin D complex. Deletion of the p16 locus has been observed in tumor cell lines and, less frequently, in primary human neoplasms. We analyzed 31 glioblastomas and identified 6 cases with hemizygous and 6 with homozygous deletions of the p16 locus. Eight of these cases showed a concurrent amplification of the EGFR gene (epidermal growth factor receptor) while the overall frequency was 35%. This close correlation suggests that deletion of the p16 chromosomal region constitutes another genetic hallmark of the primary glioblastoma, which rapidly develops de novo, without a less malignant precursor lesion and for which EGFR amplification is a characteristic genetic change. The p16 protein was not detectable in 15 of 22 glioblastomas but only 4 of these showed homozygous deletion of the gene. The alternative transcript p16 beta, for which a growth-suppressing function has been suggested, was co-expressed with p16 alpha mRNA in most cases. Hypermethylation of CpG islands in the 5' region of the p16 gene was identified in only 1 case, suggesting that this alternative mechanism of gene silencing is rarely responsible for loss of p16 expression in glioblastomas. Likewise, only 1 glioblastoma carried a p16 mutation and in addition, unexpectedly, a homozygous deletion of p16 in approximately 80% of tumor cells. This mutation, Arg24Pro, has previously been identified in a melanoma kindred.
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PMID:Hemizygous or homozygous deletion of the chromosomal region containing the p16INK4a gene is associated with amplification of the EGF receptor gene in glioblastomas. 933 10

Primary glioblastomas develop rapidly de novo through a genetic pathway characterized by amplification/overexpression of EGFR and of MDM2 genes. Secondary glioblastomas develop more slowly through progression from low grade or anaplastic astrocytoma and show a high incidence of a p53 mutation. In the present study, primary and secondary glioblastomas were analyzed for p16 deletions and CDK4 amplification by differential PCR and for loss of expression of the retinoblastoma (RB) gene by immunohistochemistry. Except for one case, alterations in the structure or expression of p16, CDK4 and RB were mutually exclusive. The overall incidence of aberrant expression of these genes coding for components of the cell-cycling-regulatory system was similar in primary (14/28; 50%) and secondary glioblastomas (9/23; 39%). However, p16 deletions were significantly more frequent in the former (10/28; 36%) than in the latter (1/23, 4%; P = 0.0075), suggesting that this alteration constitutes an additional genetic hallmark of the primary (de novo) glioblastoma.
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PMID:Alterations of cell cycle regulatory genes in primary (de novo) and secondary glioblastomas. 934 29

The aim of this study was to demonstrate that the induction of growth arrest in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cell lines by retrovirus-mediated transduction of growth control genes was dependent upon the integrity of specific endogenous control pathways. We assessed the status of the endogenous p16INK4A, p21CIP1, pRb, or p53 genes in eight GBM lines. As expected, we found varied combinations of gene defects. The outcome of transducing five of these cell lines with p16INK4A, p21CIP1, pRb, or p53 genes was not entirely predictable. The growth-inhibitory effects mediated by the transfer of the gene encoding p16 was dependent on the presence of the pRb protein, but was independent of p53 status. p21, a broadly active CDK inhibitor and a strong inducer of growth arrest, was not a universal growth suppressor in the group of glioblastoma cell lines analyzed. The suppression of GBM cell proliferation by viruses encoding pRb or p53 was generally predictable and appeared to be independent of the status of either p16 or p21. Suppression of cell growth was assessed by a colony formation assay, by observance of alterations in morphology, and by cell viability staining for trypan blue exclusion. Our findings suggest that to accomplish the suppression of GBM cell proliferation by the transduction of these cell-cycle control genes, the status of endogenous cell-cycle control genes must be taken into account.
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PMID:Restoration of growth arrest by p16INK4, p21WAF1, pRB, and p53 is dependent on the integrity of the endogenous cell-cycle control pathways in human glioblastoma cell lines. 945 56

We investigated the frequency and mutual relationship of molecular alterations in 33 malignant astrocytomas (28 glioblastomas and 5 anaplastic astrocytomas). The genetic alterations analyzed were: deletion of CDKN2a/p16 gene, TP53 mutations, and amplification of EGFR, MDM2 and CDK4. The most common genetic alteration was EGFR amplification which was revealed in 15 cases (45%). TP53 mutation was identified in 9 cases (27%) and CDKN2/p16 deletion was detected in 13 cases (41%). Either MDM2 and CDK4 amplifications were less frequent, as they were identified in 4 (12%) and 1 (3%) case, respectively. Of the 15 cases showing the amplification of EGFR, 9 had CDKN2/p16 deletion (60%, p = 0.04). On the other hand, CDKN2/p16 deletion and EGFR amplification rarely occurred with TP53 mutations (2 of 14 cases with CDKN2/p16 deletion, 14%). These results confirm the existence of at least two different pathways leading to the formation of a glioblastoma.
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PMID:Mutations of TP53, amplification of EGFR, MDM2 and CDK4, and deletions of CDKN2A in malignant astrocytomas. 1032 80


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