Expression of β-transducin repeat-containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase in human glioma and its correlation with prognosis

Abstract

β-transducin repeat‑containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (β-TrCP) targets a number of substrates essential for specific aspects of tumorigenesis. In addition, β‑TrCP regulates various important signaling pathways. As β‑TrCP is involved in regulating the ubiquitination and degradation of multiple oncogenes and tumor suppressors, the function of β‑TrCP varies between cancer types. At present, the association between β‑TrCP expression and clinicopathological factors in glioma is unknown. Therefore, the current study used western blotting and immunohistochemistry to investigate the expression of β‑TrCP protein in glioma tissue specimens. It was identified that β‑TrCP protein expression levels were significantly lower in glioma compared with non‑tumorous human brain tissues. Furthermore, the higher the grade of glioma, the lower the level of β‑TrCP expression. Kaplan‑Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with low β‑TrCP expression experienced significantly worse overall survival compared with patients with high β‑TrCP expression. The results indicate that downregulation of β‑TrCP may be associated with poor survival in patients with glioma. Together, the current data indicates that β-TrCP may be applied as a useful indicator of glioma prognosis and may serve as an anticancer therapeutic target for glioma, however further investigation is required.