Abstract

Connexin43 (cx43), a gap junction protein, is implicated in the suppression of tumor cell growth. Numerous cancer cells show a reduction or loss of cx43 expression compared to their normal counterparts. Our previous studies suggest that cx43 expression is decreased in a variety of human brain tumor cell lines. To further investigate the role of cx43 in the development of human gliomas, we performed the present study on human glioma grades I-IV. Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 18 human gliomas to analyze the expression levels of cx43 in different stages of human gliomas. High levels of cx43 were observed in all normal brain tissue and in glioma grades I and II. In contrast, the expression of cx43 was very weak in grade III gliomas and almost undetectable in grade IV gliomas. Our data support the hypothesis that reduction of cx43 is involved in the progression of human gliomas.

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