Expression and Signifi cance of Smad-1, Smad-2 and Smad-4 in Human Glioma

Objective To detect the expressions of Smad-1,Smad-2 and Smad-4 of BMPs/BMPR/Smads signaling transduction pathway in human brain glioma, to research their role of them in tumorigenesis and progression of brain glioma and their correlation with clinical pathology. Methods The mRNA and protein expressions of Smad-1，Smad-2 and Smad-4 were detected in 20 normal brain tissues and 40 samples with human glioma by RT-PCR and SABC immunohistochemical methods, respectively, and analyzed the correlation with the patient's age, gender and pathological grade. Results Compared with normal brain tissues, Smad-1，Smad-2 and Smad-4 mRNA expressions in human glioma were reduced signifi cantly（0.277 ±0.125 vs. 0.573±0.097， P<0.01；0.282±0.111 vs. 0.613±0.105， P<0.01；0.389±0.101 vs. 0.483± 0.098，P<0.05 ）especially in Ⅲ and Ⅳ stage tumor tissues（0.250±0.106 vs. 0.327±0.119，P<0.05；0.2451±0.109 vs. 0.315±0.113，P<0.05；0.347±0.121 vs. 0.434±0.102，P<0.05），and protein expressions in human glioma were reduced significantly（37.50% vs. 75.00% ， P<0.0 1；20.00% vs. 65.00%，P<0.01；25.00% vs. 70.00%，P<0.01）especially in Ⅲ and Ⅳ stage tumor tissues（16.67% vs. 54.55%，P<0.05；5.56% vs. 31.82%，P<0.05；5.56% vs. 40.91%，P<0.05）. The difference was not related with the patient's age and gender. Conclusion Expressions of Smad-1，Smad-2 and Smad-4 in human glioma are closely related with glioma malignant degree. It prompts Smad-1, Smad-2 and Smad-4 participate in brain glioma occurrence and development process.