Biologics: Targets & Therapy (Jul 2021)

Sensitivity Assessment of Wilms Tumor Gene (WT1) Expression in Glioblastoma using qPCR and Immunohistochemistry and its Association with IDH1 Mutation and Recurrence Interval

  • Kurdi M,
  • Butt NS,
  • Baeesa S,
  • Kuerban A,
  • Maghrabi Y,
  • Bardeesi A,
  • Saeedi R,
  • Alghamdi BS,
  • Lary AI,
  • Mohamed F,
  • Hakamy S

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 15
pp. 289 – 297

Abstract

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Maher Kurdi,1 Nadeem Shafique Butt,2 Saleh Baeesa,3 Abudukadeer Kuerban,4 Yazid Maghrabi,5 Anas Bardeesi,5 Rothaina Saeedi,3 Badrah S Alghamdi,6 Ahmed I Lary,7 Fawaz Mohamed,1 Sahar Hakamy8 1Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Division of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Neuroscience, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 7Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 8Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Maher KurdiDepartment of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaTel +966 556655467Email [email protected]: Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) gene has recently shown a role in gliomagenesis, making it a potential immunotherapy target in glioblastomas. We aimed to investigate the most sensitive method to detect WT1 expression in glioblastoma and explore the relationship between WT1 expression, IDH1 mutation and recurrence interval.Patients and Methods: Clinical data were collected from 44 patients with glioblastomas, treated with adjuvant therapies. WT1 expression was assessed in all cases using immunohistochemistry (IHC), while its gene expression was assessed in 13 clustered samples using polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). IDH1 mutation was assessed using IHC. The sensitivity between IHC and RT-qPCR was examined. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to compare the recurrence-free interval (RFI) between IDH1 and WT1 expression groups.Results: IDH1wildtype was found in 26 cases (59.1%) and the remaining 18 cases (40.9%) were IDH1mutant. Through IHC, WT1 was overexpressed in 32 cases (72.7%), partially expressed in 9 cases (20.5%) and not expressed in only 3 cases. For the 13 cases tested by qPCR, 6 cases showed WT1 upregulation and 7 cases showed WT1 downregulation. There was no significant difference in WT1 expression among cases with different RNA concentrations regardless the testing method (p-value > 0.05). However, the difference between IHC and qPCR was significant. IDH1mutant cases with WT1 overexpression showed significant difference in RFI (p-value =0.048).Conclusion: Parallel testing for WT1 expression using IHC and qPCR is not reliable. However, IHC provides more accurate results. Moreover, IDH1mutant glioblastomas with WT1 overexpression are associated with late RFI particularly if temozolomide with additional chemotherapies are used.Keywords: glioblastoma, IDH1 mutation, WT1 expression, chemotherapies, PCR sensitivity

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