Expression and prognostic value of NDRG2 in human astrocytomas

Abstract Objective The pathological grading system of human astrocytoma is usually used to evaluate the outcomes of brain glioma patients. However, it is true that some astrocytoma patients with similar grades underwent obvious discrepancy in survival. Increasing evidence shows that certain tumor biomarkers are more suitable for prognosis assessment of tumors than the grading system. NDRG2, a member of the N-myc downstream-regulated gene family, plays an important role in cell proliferation and differentiation, but whether it can be used as a biomarker for prognosis assessment of astrocytomas remains unknown. Methods Immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative RT-PCR were performed to examine the expression profile of NDRG2 in human astrocytoma specimens. Spearman correlation coefficient was used to describe the association between NDRG2 expression and the clinical parameters of astrocytoma patients. Results Our results showed that both protein and mRNA expression levels of NDRG2 were significantly downregulated in astrocytomas. In the analysis of the relationship of NDRG2 expression with pathological grades of astrocytoma and with patient survival rate, we found that NDRG2 expression was negatively correlated with pathological grading but positively with the life span of astrocytoma patients. Conclusion NDRG2 can serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for human astrocytoma.