ALPHA-6-BETA-4 AND ALPHA-6-BETA-1 INTEGRINS IN ASTROCYTOMAS AND OTHERCNS TUMORS

Laminin may alter the biological behavior of gliomas. Therefore, we in vestigated the expression of two laminin receptors, alpha 6 beta 1 and alpha 6 beta 4 integrins in normal brain, astrogliotic brain, and ast rocytomas as compared to other central nervous system (CNS) tumors. In most CNS tumors, the expression of these integrins was unchanged in n eoplastic as compared to normal counterpart cells. In contrast, increa sed numbers of reactive and neoplastic astrocytes expressed beta 4 int egrin as compared to normal astrocytes, whereas alpha 6 and beta 1 int egrin expression did not change. Conversely, lower numbers of astrocyt oma blood vessels expressed beta 4, whereas all blood vessels in norma l brain expressed beta 4. These data suggest that the profile of lamin in receptors changes in neoplastic astrocytes and in astrocytoma blood vessels; this change may play an important role in astrocytoma pathog enesis.