Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 and Heme Oxygenase-1 Protein Expression and Clinicopathological Features in Glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastoma is one of the most common primary brain tumors, and local recurrence and distant metastasis are common posttreatment manifestations in patients. The overall five-year survival still remains poor. Nuclear factor erythroid2-related factor2 (Nrf-2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) have been considered to play major roles in the pathogenesis of many tumors. In this study, the expressions of Nrf-2 and HO-1 in glioblastoma were investigated to explore the possible impacts of them on the growth of glioblastoma. 49 cases of glioblastoma patients were analyzed to summarize their gender, age, tumor recurrence, size of tumor, postoperation radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Immunohistochemistry (SP) was applied to evaluate the expression of Nrf-2 and HO-l in pathological sections of 49 cases of giloblastoma and 23 cases of adjacent control tissues. Results showed that the positive rates of Nrf-2 and HO-1 in the 49 glioblastoma tissue sections were 85.7% and 89.8%, respectively, and that of Nrf-2 and HO-1 were 34.8% and 26.1%, respectively in 23 cases of adjacent control sections. There were significant differences between the two groups (P < 0.001). Furthermore, positive correlations were confirmed between the expression of Nrf-2 and HO-1 (r = 0.440, P < 0.05). There were no correlations among gender, age, tumor recurrence, size of tumor, postoperation radiotherapy and chemotherapy (P > 0.05). Nrf-2 and HO-1 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of glioblastoma, and might be a potential therapeutic target for glioblastoma.