The purpose of the study was to investigate the pathological and clinical significance of the expression of
nestin, a type-VI intermediate filament transiently expressed during brain development, in
glioma tissue. This study was conducted in 70 patients with newly diagnosed adult supratentorial
gliomas who underwent multimodality treatment in our department, including surgery. The pathological diagnosis was grade II in 6 patients, grade III in 21 patients, and grade IV in 43 patients. Two specimen sections, one from the bulk of the removed
tumor and one from the border between the
tumor and normal brain tissue, were subjected to immunostaining with a mouse anti-human
nestin monoclonal antibody. Analyses were performed to investigate possible correlation with pathological features, the relationship between
nestin expression and the continuity of
tumor with the subventricular zone (SVZ), correlation with the therapeutic prognosis, etc.
Nestin was expressed specifically in
astrocytoma lineage cells. In oligodendroglial
tumors,
nestin was expressed only in less-differentiated cells and cells suggestive of the presence of
astrocytoma. In astrocytic
tumors, the rate and level of
nestin expression increased as the degree of
malignancy increased. There was no significant correlation between the expression level of
nestin and the continuity of
tumor with the SVZ in the contrast-enhanced imaging before surgery. In addition, no correlation with the therapeutic prognosis was observed.
Nestin, a neural stem cell marker, was specifically expressed in
astrocytoma lineage cells in
glioma tissue. A positive correlation was observed between the degree of
malignancy and the level of
nestin expression. However, the level of
nestin expression was not related to the
tumor localization in the SVZ and was not correlated with the therapeutic prognosis.