expression is influenced by astrocytoma grade and polymorphism.

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is an intermediate filament that provides mechanical support to astrocytes. is a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the promoter region of the gene. The aim of this pilot study is to investigate expression at mRNA, protein levels and polymorphism in 50 different grade human astrocytoma samples. expression at mRNA level was measured using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) with SYBR Green dye, whereas the translational activity of the following gene was detected using western blot assay. Furthermore, genotypes of were identified using qPCR with TaqMan probes. As a result, mRNA and protein expression was found to be declining with increasing astrocytoma grade (p < 0.05). A tendency was observed between increased mRNA expression and shorter grade IV astrocytoma patient survival (p = 0.2117). The CC genotype was found to be associated with increased translational activity in grade II astrocytoma (p = 0.0238). Possible links between genotypes and alternative splicing of were also observed. The AA genotype was found to be associated with poor clinical outcome for grade IV astrocytoma patients (p = 0.0007), although the following data should be checked in a larger sample size of astrocytoma patients.