Affiliations: [a] Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt | [b] Batterjee Medical College for Sciences and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | [c] Medical Oncology Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt | [d] Medical Oncology Unit, Oncology Center, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Abd AlRahman Mohammad Foda, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt. Tel.: +20 1009977402; E-mail: abdofoda@mans.edu.eg.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: E-cadherin and Fascin are adhesive proteins that are expressed in many tumors. It was supposed that loss of expression of these proteins is associated with increased aggressiveness of the tumor. Whether spinal and intracranial meningiomas express adhesion proteins in different rates is not yet known. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the expression of E-cadherin and Fascin in a large number of meningioma specimens and determine if clinical and prognostic significance exists METHODS: One hundred and thirty-four spinal and intracranial meningioma samples were collected. Manual TMA blocks were constructed and immunohistochemistry for E-cadherin and Fascin was done. Focal or diffuse staining was considered positive. RESULTS: Intracranial meningioma occurred in significantly younger age than spinal ones. Most of spinal meningiomas were of transitional histology. E-cadherin was expressed in 38.8% of cases. Spinal meningiomas showed statistically significant negative expression of E-cadherin than intracranial tumors. All atypical meningiomas showed negative E-cadherin expression. Fascin was expressed in 9% of cases with significant expression in atypical cases. CONCLUSIONS: Aggressive behavior of meningioma could be explained in part by loss of E-cadherin and overexpression of Fascin especially in spinal meningiomas. Further studies are suggested to explore the biological aspects of spinal and intracranial meningiomas for constructing tailored targeted therapies.
