Prostaglandin F2 receptor inhibitor (PTGFRN) promotes neoplastic cell migration and metastasis in some human cancers. However, the role of PTGFRN in human gliomas is still undetermined. First of all, PTGFRN messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) overexpression correlated with some poor prognostic factors of glioma after analyzing The Cancer Genome Atlas and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database. In order to detect the effect of PTGFRN expression on tumor characteristics of gliomas, U87MG, LN229, and glioblastoma 8401 glioma cell lines were cultured and prepared for western blot analysis and real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The results revealed the overexpression of PTGFRN in all glioma cell lines as compared to normal brain cells. In addition, PTGFRN immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed on two sets of glioma tissue microarrays. Consistent with the results of in vitro studies, cytoplasmic PTGFRN immunostaining scores positively correlated with tumor grades and poor prognosis of gliomas. Therefore, PTGFRN IHC staining may be useful for the evaluation of tumor grades and overall survival time to facilitate the tailoring of appropriate treatment strategy. PTGFRN may serve as a potential pharmacologic target for the suppression of gliomagenesis.
Keywords: Glioma; immunostaining scores; prognosis; prostaglandin F2 receptor inhibitor.