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Expression of alarin in ependymoma and choroid plexus tumors

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Abstract

Alarin, a 25 amino acid splice variant of the galanin-like peptide, was originally discovered in gangliocytes of neuroblastic tumors and shown to be expressed in ganglioneuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma but not in undifferentiated neuroblastoma. Recently, in vivo studies have elucidated the physiological functions of alarin in the central nervous system (CNS). Alarin was shown to stimulate food intake, increase body weight, induce luteinizing hormone secretion and stimulate fos-expression in rats; the anatomical localization for these functions correlates well with the varied distribution of the alarin peptide in the brain. Because alarin was originally detected in neuroblastic tumors and is present in a wide range of nuclei in the CNS, we determined in the present study the expression of alarin in a variety of CNS tumors. Immunohistochemical analysis of 179 tumor samples resulted in different alarin-like immunoreactivity (alarin-LI) intensities, which were score-rated from 0 (no alarin stainin), 1 (low intensity), 2 (medium intensity) to 3 (high intensity). Immunohistochemical analyses revealed score 2 or 3 alarin-LI in all choroid plexus tumors (100 %, 7/7) and in the majority of ependymomas (90 %, 52/58), but only in a minority of astrocytomas (15 %, 5/33), meningiomas (14 %, 7/49) and tumors of the cranial nerves (7 %, 1/15). In oligodendrogliomas (0 %, 0/12) and oligoastrocytoma (0 %, 0/5) alarin-LI was not detectable. The high specificity (83 %) of alarin-LI suggests that it might be used as a diagnostic marker for ependymoma in differentiating them from other gliomas such as astrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Children’s Cancer Foundation Salzburg, “Vereinigung zur Förderung Pädiatrischer Forschung und Fortbilung Salzburg” and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG, 822782/THERAPEP).

Conflict of interest

The authors reported no conflicts of interest with the publication of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Laura Bassi Centre of Expertise THERAPEP, Research Program for Receptor Biochemistry and Tumor Metabolism, Paracelsus Medical University, Müllner-Hauptstraße 48, Salzburg, Austria

    Nicole Eberhard & Barbara Kofler

  2. Laboratory of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Neuropathology, Landes-Nervenklinik Wagner-Jauregg, Linz, Austria

    Serge Weis

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria

    Herbert Reitsamer

Authors
  1. Nicole Eberhard
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  2. Serge Weis
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  3. Herbert Reitsamer
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  4. Barbara Kofler
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Correspondence to Barbara Kofler.

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Eberhard, N., Weis, S., Reitsamer, H. et al. Expression of alarin in ependymoma and choroid plexus tumors. J Neurooncol 114, 165–171 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-013-1177-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-013-1177-4

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