Frequency of polymorphisms and protein expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A) in central nervous system tumors

context and objective: genetic investigation of central nervous system (cns) tumors provides valuable information about the genes regulating proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis, migration and apoptosis in the cns. the aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of genetic polymorphisms (codon 31 and 3' untranslated region, 3'utr) and protein expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1a (cdkn1a) gene in patients with and without cns tumors. design and setting: analytical cross-sectional study with a control group, at the molecular biology laboratory, pediatric oncology department, hospital das clínicas de ribeir？o preto. methods: 41 patients with cns tumors and a control group of 161 subjects without cancer and paires for sex, age and ethnicity were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (pcr-rflp). protein analysis was performed on 36 patients with cns tumors, using the western blotting technique. results: the frequencies of the heterozygote (ser/arg) and polymorphic homozygote (arg/arg) genotypes of codon 31 in the control subjects were 28.0% and 1.2%, respectively. however, the 3'utr site presented frequencies of 24.2% (c/t) and 0.6% (t/t). these frequencies were not statistically different (p > 0.05) from those seen in the patients with cns tumors (19.4% and 0.0%, codon 31; 15.8% and 2.6%, 3'utr site). regarding the protein expression in ependymomas, 66.67% did not express the protein cdkn1a. the results for medulloblastomas and astrocytomas were similar: neither of them expressed the protein (57.14% and 61.54%, respectively). conclusion: no significant differences in protein expression patterns or polymorphisms of cdkn1a in relation to the three types of cns tumors were observed among brazilian subjects.