Brachyury: A sensitive marker, but not a prognostic factor, for skull base chordomas.

Abstract

Patients with skull base chordomas have a poor prognosis, and the role of the protein expression of brachyury in chordomas remains to be fully elucidated. The present study used immunohistochemistry to analyze 57 cases of skull base chordoma, and analyzed the clinical data of the patients. The results demonstrated that the protein expression of brachyury was negative in 8.8% (5/57) of the cases. The weak/positive, positive and strong/positive rates were 5.3% (3/57), 21.1% (12/57) and 64.9% (37/57), respectively. The association between the expression of brachyury and recurrence was not statistically significant. Kaplan‑Meier analysis revealed that the degree of surgery, rather than the expression of brachyury, was associated with tumor recurrence (P=0.001). In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that the expression of Brachyury offers a sensitive marker, but not a risk factor, for skull base chordomas, and radical surgery is recommended.

• Authors: Ke Wang, Kaibing Tian, Liang Wang, Zhen Wu, Cong Ren, Shuyu Hao, Jie Feng, Junhua Li, Hong Wan, Guijun Jia, Liwei Zhang, Junting Zhang
• Journal: Molecular medicine reports (Mol Med Rep) Vol. 12 Issue 3 Pg. 4298-4304 (Sep 2015) ISSN: 1791-3004 [Electronic] Greece
• PMID: 26099340 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Fetal Proteins
• T-Box Domain Proteins
• Brachyury protein

Topics

• Adult
• Biomarkers, Tumor (metabolism)
• Chordoma (diagnosis, metabolism, mortality, surgery)
• Female
• Fetal Proteins (metabolism)
• Humans
• Kaplan-Meier Estimate
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasm Recurrence, Local (metabolism, mortality, prevention & control)
• Prognosis
• Proportional Hazards Models
• Skull Base Neoplasms (diagnosis, metabolism, mortality, surgery)
• T-Box Domain Proteins (metabolism)
• Young Adult