Expression of coronin‐3 (coronin‐1C) in diffuse gliomas is related to malignancy

Coronin‐3 (coronin‐1C), a homotrimeric F‐actin binding protein, has been shown to be important for cell migration and brain morphogenesis. Here, we present for the first time a detailed analysis of the expression pattern of coronin‐3 in human brain tumours and demonstrate that coronin‐3 expression correlates with malignant phenotype in diffuse gliomas. In general, the expression of coronin‐3 varies in different brain tumour entities. However, in diffuse gliomas, the number of coronin‐3 expressing tumour cells correlates with the degree of malignancy. High‐grade gliomas, such as anaplastic astrocytomas, anaplastic oligodendrogliomas, anaplastic oligoastrocytomas and glioblastomas, show high numbers of tumour cells positive for coronin‐3, while diffuse low‐grade gliomas, such as diffuse astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas and oligoastrocytomas, exhibit low numbers of coronin‐3‐positive tumour cells. In order to explore and verify a contribution of coronin‐3 to the malignant phenotype of diffuse gliomas, we employed an efficient shRNA‐mediated coronin‐3 knockdown in U373 and A172 human glioblastoma cells. Coronin‐3 knockdown glioblastoma cells exhibited reduced levels of cell proliferation, cell motility and invasion into extracellular matrix compared to control cells. Together, our findings demonstrate evidence for a contribution of coronin‐3 expression in the malignant progression of diffuse gliomas. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.