====== Transforming growth factor beta 3 ======

Ma et al., analyzed the expression of TGF-β3 at the [[mRNA]] level in 38 frozen meningioma samples. Clinical data collection, follow-up, correlations and survival analyses were performed.

WHO grade I meningiomas showed an average expression level of 2.55, which was higher than that of WHO grade II (average of 1.50 ) and WHO grade III (average of 0.21 ) (Kruskal-Wallis test, P=0.008). For meningiomas with history of surgery, the mean TGF-β3 expression level was 0.71, much lower than that of primary meningiomas with a mean value of 2.55 (Mann-Whitney U-test, P=0.008). According to the Kaplan-Meier analysis and univariate Cox analysis, WHO grade (P=0.001), history of surgery (P<0.001), tumor volume (P=0.045), preoperative KPS (Karnofsky Performance Status, P=0.001), peritumoral brain edema (P=0.039), postoperative radiotherapy (P=0.001), degree of resection (P=0.039) and TGF-β3 expression (P=0.038) were prognostic factors for tumor recurrence. In addition, WHO grade (P<0.001), history of surgery (P<0.001), preoperative KPS (P=0.002), peritumoral brain edema (P=0.006), postoperative radiotherapy (P=0.007), bone invasion (P=0.03) and TGF-β3 expression (P=0.041) were prognostic factors for mortality.

TGF-β3 expression levels gradually declined with the increase of WHO grade and were lower in recurrent meningiomas than in primary meningiomas. Besides, low TGF-β3 expression was found to predict tumor recurrence and mortality in meningiomas based on univariate analysis
((Ma J, Li D, Chen Y, Zhang Y, Song L, Tian K, Yang Y, Chen L, Weng J, Cao X,
Hao S, Wang L, Wu Z, Zhang J. Low TGF-β3 expression predicts tumor malignancy in 
meningiomas. World Neurosurg. 2019 Jan 28. pii: S1878-8750(19)30175-5. doi:
10.1016/j.wneu.2019.01.077. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30703597.
)).