Skip Navigation


Brain Advance Access originally published online on March 31, 2009
Brain 2009 132(6):1523-1535; doi:10.1093/brain/awp048
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
132/6/1523    most recent
awp048v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tchoghandjian, A.
Right arrow Articles by Figarella-Branger, D.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tchoghandjian, A.
Right arrow Articles by Figarella-Branger, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Pilocytic astrocytoma of the optic pathway: a tumour deriving from radial glia cells with a specific gene signature

Aurélie Tchoghandjian1,*, Carla Fernandez1,2,*, Carole Colin1, Ikbale El Ayachi1, Brigitte Voutsinos-Porche1, Frédéric Fina3, Didier Scavarda4, Marie-Dominique Piercecchi-Marti5, Dominique Intagliata1, L’Houcine Ouafik1, Caroline Fraslon-Vanhulle6 and Dominique Figarella-Branger1,2,*

1 UMR911-CRO2, Faculté de Medecine Timone, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille F-13000, France 2 Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, CHU Timone, Service d’Anatomie Pathologique et de Neuropathologie, Marseille F-13000, France 3 Laboratoire de Transfert d’Oncologie Biologique, APHM, Faculté de Médecine Nord, Marseille F-13000, France 4 Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, CHU Timone, Service de Neurochirurgie, Marseille F-13000, France 5 Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, CHU Timone, Service de Médecine Légale, Marseille F-13000, France 6 Sanofi-Aventis Recherche et Développement, Oncology Department, Sanofi-Aventis, Vitry-sur-Seine, F-94400, France

Correspondence to: Professor D. Figarella-Branger, INSERM UMR 911 CRO2; Université de la Méditerranée. 27 bd Jean Moulin 13285 Marseille cedex 05. E-mail: dominique.figarella-branger{at}univmed.fr

Pilocytic astrocytomas are WHO grade I gliomas that occur predominantly in childhood. They share features of both astroglial and oligodendroglial lineages. These tumours affect preferentially the cerebellum (benign clinical course) and the optic pathway, especially the hypothalamo–chiasmatic region (poor prognosis). Understanding the molecular basis responsible for the aggressive behaviour of hypothalamo–chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas is a prerequisite to setting up new molecular targeted therapies. We used the microarray technique to compare the transcriptional profiles of five hypothalamo–chiasmatic and six cerebellar pilocytic astrocytomas. Validation of the microarray results and comparison of the tumours with normal developing tissue was done by quantitative real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry. Results demonstrate that cerebellar and hypothalamo–chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas are two genetically distinct and topography-dependent entities. Numerous genes upregulated in hypothalamo–chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas also increased in the developing chiasm, suggesting that developmental genes mirror the cell of origin whereas migrative, adhesive and proliferative genes reflect infiltrative properties of these tumours. Of particular interest, NOTCH2, a gene expressed in radial glia and involved in gliomagenesis, was upregulated in hypothalamo–chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas. In order to find progenitor cells that could give rise to hypothalamo-chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytomas, we performed a morphological study of the hypothalamo–chiasmatic region and identified, in the floor of the third ventricle, a unique population of vimentin- and glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cells highly suggestive of radial glia cells. Therefore, pilocytic astrocytomas of the hypothalamo–chiasmatic region should be considered as a distinct entity which probably originates from a unique population of cells with radial glia phenotype.

Key Words: hypothalamo–chiasmatic astrocytomas; molecular profile; proliferation; invasion; radial glia

Abbreviations: PA, pilocytic astrocytoma; H/C, hypothalamo–chiasmatic; O2A, oligodendrocyte-type-2-astrocyte; RT-Q-PCR, real-time quantitative PCR; OPC, oligodendrocyte precursor cell

.

Received July 15, 2008. Revised December 9, 2008. Accepted February 4, 2009.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.