Pediatric Surgery International

, Volume 24, Issue 1, pp 101–105 | Cite as

Lack of Thy1 (CD90) expression in neuroblastomas is correlated with impaired survival

  • Henning C. Fiegel
  • Jussuf T. Kaifi
  • Alexander Quaas
  • Emine Varol
  • Annika Krickhahn
  • Roman Metzger
  • Guido Sauter
  • Holger Till
  • Jakob R. Izbicki
  • Rudolf Erttmann
  • Dietrich Kluth
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

Neuroblastoma (NBL) is the most common solid tumor in children. Tumors in advanced stage or with positive risk factors still have a poor prognosis. Thy1 (CD90) is a membrane glycoprotein expressed in thymus, retinal ganglionic cells, and several types of stem cells. The aim of this study was to assess Thy1 expression in NBL and analyze the correlation with clinical outcome. Sixty-three specimens of NBL were stained for Thy1 on a tissue microarray by immunohistochemistry. Fresh frozen tumor tissues were used for RNA isolation, and RT-PCR analysis for Thy1-mRNA expression was performed. Patients’ survival data were correlated with Thy1 status using a log rank test and a Cox regression multivariate analysis. Thy1 was expressed on 51 (81%) of the tumors. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed a significantly impaired survival in patients with NBL missing Thy1 (P < 0.005 by log-rank test). A multivariate Cox regression showed an independent prognostic value of Thy1 status for overall survival (P < 0.05). In addition, the frequency of events and deaths was significantly higher in the group of patients with Thy1 negative tumors, as assessed by ANOVA analysis (P < 0.05 by F-test). The data showed that Thy1-negative NBL patients have a significantly impaired overall survival compared with Thy1-positive NBL patients. Thus, Thy1 seemed to be a marker with a specific prognostic value in NBL patients. Future studies are aiming at the biological role of this marker in the tumor cell differentiation.

Keywords

Neuroblastoma Thy1 Tumor marker Childhood cancer 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mrs. Beate Roth, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, and Mr. A. Looft, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf for technical assistance.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • Henning C. Fiegel
    • 1
  • Jussuf T. Kaifi
    • 3
  • Alexander Quaas
    • 4
  • Emine Varol
    • 2
  • Annika Krickhahn
    • 2
  • Roman Metzger
    • 1
  • Guido Sauter
    • 4
  • Holger Till
    • 1
  • Jakob R. Izbicki
    • 3
  • Rudolf Erttmann
    • 5
  • Dietrich Kluth
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Pediatric SurgeryUniversity of LeipzigLeipzigGermany
  2. 2.Department of Pediatric SurgeryUniversitätsklinikum Hamburg-EppendorfHamburgGermany
  3. 3.Department of General SurgeryUniversitätsklinikum Hamburg-EppendorfHamburgGermany
  4. 4.Department of PathologyUniversitätsklinikum Hamburg-EppendorfHamburgGermany
  5. 5.Department of Pediatric Hematology/OncologyUniversitätsklinikum Hamburg-EppendorfHamburgGermany

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