Expression and significance of branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 in malignant gliomas

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression levels of branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) and its relationship with glioma proliferation in different levels of glioma. Methods The glioma specimens of 54 patients resected at Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University from 2012 to 2013 were collected. Immunohistochemistry assay was used to detect the expression levels of BCAT1 and Ki-67 in 54 patients with glioma. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression degree of BCAT1 gene. Results (1) The expression levels of BCAT1 increased with the elevated pathologic grades (P<0.05). (2) Its expression degree is positively correlated with that of Ki-67 (r=0.825, P<0.01). (3) With the increase of the malignant degree of gliomas, the expression of BCAT1 mRNA increased. There was significant difference in the expression levels between the WHO gradeⅠ (0.5587±0.2038) and grade Ⅱ (1.3499±0.3964) (P<0.01). There was significant difference in the expression levels between the WHO grade Ⅱ and grade Ⅲ (P<0.01). There was significant difference in the expression levels between the WHO grade Ⅲ (2.0004±0.4025) and grade Ⅳ (3.0656±0.4955) (P<0.01). Conclusions BCAT1 is positively correlated with the malignant degree of gliomas. The higher the degree of malignancy, the higher the expression level of BCAT1. Key words: Glioma; Branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1; Cell proliferation