A, RT-PCR results of the WIF-1 gene in normal brain tissue (N1-N2)

and astrocytoma (T1-T8) is shown. GAPDH is shown as a control. The fragments of amplified human WIF-1 and GAPDH cDNA are188 and135 bp, respectively. B, Representative methylation status of the WIF-1 promoter in 10 matched pairs of normal brain tissue (N1-N2) and astrocytomas(T1-T8).T1,3,5:WHO grade II;T2,4,6:WHO grade III;T7,8: WHO grade IV. U, unmethylated control;M, methylated control;NTC, no template control. Relationship between promoter methylation and expression GSK690693 concentration of WIF-1 To examine whether the methylation status of promoter correlates with the expression of WIF-1, MS-PCR was carried out [Tab. 1 and Fig. 2(B)]. No hypermethylation was obseved in all normal brain tissues. Tozasertib In contrast, aberrant methylation was observed in 29(54.72%) of 53 tumor samples. Especially, 22 (73.33%) of 30 high-grade astrocytomas(WHO

grade III, IV) showed promoter hypermethylation. Unmethylation-specific PCR band was detected in 9 of 29(31.03%) methylated samples, probably due to unavoidable contamination of non-tumor cells, or partial methylation of the gene. The promoter methylated tumors showed low WIF-1 protein and mRNA expression, whereas the promoter unmethylated tumors displayed high protein and mRNA expression levels (Fig. 3). Thus, these data indicated a significant correlation (both P < 0.001) between hypermethylation and decreased expression of WIF-1 in astrocytomas. Figure 3 Correlation between hypermethylation and decreased or weak expression of WIF-1 in astrocytomas. A significant downregulation of the protein(A) and mRNA(B) expression of WIF-1 was observed in astrocytomas with promoter methylation(both P < 0.001). The bars in the graph showed the mean ± SD. Discussion WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway is important in tumorigenesis and embryogenesis [15, 16]. The signaling pathway mediated by Wnt proteins currently includes two classes - canonical and noncanonical - on the basis of the activity of Wnt proteins

in cell lines or in vivo assays. The canonical pathway, in which β-Catenin plays a crucial role, is the most studied Wnt pathway in cancers. The activation Demeclocycline of canonical pathway allows β-catenin to accumulate in the cytosol and enter the nucleus and induces expression of Wnt target genes like c-Myc, N-Myc, and cyclin D1 [17–19], many of which have been implicaticated in human cancers. In astrocytoma, the level of Wnt-2, Wnt-5a and β-catenin protein is strikingly increased compared with normal brain tissue[2, 3, 5]. Knockdown of Wnt and its key mediator β-catenin in the canonical Wnt pathway by siRNA in human astrocytoma cells inhibited cell proliferation and invasive ability and induced apoptotic cell death, and reduced tumorigenicity in vivo. The above findings suggest Wnt signaling in astrocytoma is STAT inhibitor constitutively activated and of critical importance in the astrocytoma genesis. WIF-1 is an endogenous Wnt antagonist.