Expression of proteasome subunit beta type-4 protein in gliomas

Objective To investigate the differences of proteasome subunit beta type-4 (PSMB4) expression between normal cerebral tissues and glioma tissues,and the relevance between its expression and glioma malignancy degree.Methods Seventy-five human glioma liquid nitrogen frozen specimens,collected and confirmed by pathology in our hospital from January 2008 to February 2012,including 21 with grade Ⅰ astrocytoma,21 with grade Ⅱ astrocytoma,27 with grade Ⅲ astrocytoma and 6 with grade Ⅳ glioblastoma,were chosen in our study; another 5 normal cerebral tissues from cerebral trauma patients performed decompression were chosen as controls.Immunohistochemistry wax employed to detect the PSMB4 expressions in both normal cerebral tissues and glioma tissues.Results PSMB4 protein expression was negative in the controls,while positive/strong positive in the gliomas.Statistical analysis showed that the PSMB4 protein expression level in the gliomas was significantly higher than that in the controls (P＜0.05).PSMB4 protein expression in gliomas of different degrees showed no statistically significant differences (P＞0.05).Conclusion PSMB4 protein expression in the glioma tissues is higher than that in the normal cerebral tissues,however,no relevance between PSMB4 expression and glioma malignancy grade is noted. Key words: Glioblastoma; Proteasome subunit beta type-4; Immunohistochemistry