Background: Over the past decade
there have been several attempt
tries
for molecular classification of
CNS
tumors, also to identify biological
markers that reflect the degree of
tumour
malignancy. Such markers
might
assist in identifying tumors
with
a poor prognosis and application
of new medical target therapy
.
Platelet-derived growth factor
(PDGF) signalling has been shown
to be a key regulator of glioma development.
Clinical trials evaluating the
efficacy
of anti-PDGFRA therapies
on
gliomas are ongoing
31
Objectives: evaluation of PDGFRA
protein in adult astrocytoma as a
new hope to use PDGFRA as biological
prognostic marker and possi-

bility of using anti PDGFRA as a target
therapy in astrocytoma. Also we
aimed
to correlate expression of
PDGFRA
protein to p53 and cyclin
D1
expression in astrocytoma.
Material & Methods: well representative
paraffin embedded blocks
of
57 cases of adult astrocytoma (16
diffuse
astrocytoma, 9 anaplastic astrocytoma,
28 cases were GBM, and
4
cases were gliosarcoma) were
evaluated
for PDGFRA protein, P53,
Cyclin
D1 expression. Correlation of
level
of expression of these proteins
were
correlated to clinicopathologic
criteria
was done
Results: According to WHO, 16
Cases were grade II, 9 cases were
grade III, while 32 had grade IV. PDGFRA was positive in all cases of
astrocytoma cases. with varied interisty
PDGFRA expression was also
observed
in tumour-associated endothelial
cells of blood vessels in approximately
8% of the cases.
PDGFRA
showed significant correlation
with histopathological type (p < br />value
< 0.001). Also PDGFRA was
significantly
correlated to WHO grading
of the tumor (p value <0.001)
with
no significant correlation to age,
gender
or site of tumor. 43 cases
(>109%)
expressed cyclin D1 but
with
varied intensity of expression.
Cyclin
D1 showed significant correlation
with anatomical site of tumor (p < br />value
=0.032), with age (p value
=0.003),
however, no significant correlation
to gender. 82.5 % of cases
expressed
p53, P53 showed significant
correlation with histopathological
type (p value = 0.001). Astrocytoma is the most common
primary neoplasm of the central nervous
system, representing 30% to
40%
of all tumors. Based on histological,
immunohistochemical, and
ultrastructural
criteria, the astrocytic
tumors
are graded are graded on a
scale
from I-IV
3, 2
According to WHO. (2007), diffusely
infiltrative astrocytic tumours
are
classified as diffuse astrocytomas
(grade II) which are slowly
growing,
diffusely infiltrating astrocytomas
that are prone to progress to
higher
grades. Anaplastic astrocytomas
(grade III) display increased
proliferation
rate, increased cellularity
and nuclear atypia. Glioblastoma
multiforme
(grade IV) is the most
malignant
form of astrocytoma characterized
by microvascular proliferation,
necrosis and cellular pleomorphism