THE EXPRESSION OF GENES OF THE STEROID-THYROID HORMONE-RECEPTOR SUPERFAMILY IN CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM TUMORS

We studied the expression of ten genes (encoding the receptors for glu cocorticoid, mineralocorticoid, progesterone, androgen, estrogen, thyr oid, retinoid acid, vitamin D) belonging to the steroid-thyroid hormon e receptor superfamily (STRS) in 12 neuroepithelial tumors, 12 meningi omas and 2 human glioblastoma cell lines. Our method, based on the pol ymerase chain reaction, allowed the simultaneous amplification of cDNA s of the STRS genes. On average, 7 STRS genes were simultaneously expr essed in each sample. Our study indicates that many STRS genes are com monly co-expressed in human CNS tumors. The importance of our results for the ongoing and proposed hormonal treatment trials is discussed.