The expression of complement regulatory proteins (CRP) on the surface
of neoplastic cells has been proposed as a mechanism by which these ce
lls evade immune surveillance. We have examined the RNA expression of
the genes that encode 5 kinds of CRP in various human brain tumors to
determine whether CRP expression might play a role in the malignant pr
ogression of these tumors. The benign and atypical meningiomas, and th
e astrocytomas showed high expression of SP-40,40, low expression of C
D59, and barely detectable expression of CD46, CD55 and S-protein. The
benign and atypical menigiomas showed significantly greater expressio
n of SP-40,40 at the RNA level when compared to malignant meningiomas.
This study describes the mRNA expression of meningiomas, astrocytomas
, tumor cell lines and normal human tissues.