Differential expression of 12 histone deacetylase (HDAC) genes in astrocytomas and normal brain tissue: class II and IV are hypoexpressed in glioblastomas

Forty-three microdissected patient tumor samples were evaluated. The histopathologic diagnoses were 20 low-grade gliomas (13 grade I and 7 grade II) and 23 high-grade gliomas (5 grade III and 18 glioblastomas). Eleven normal cerebral tissue samples were also analyzed (54 total samples analyzed). mRNA expression of class I, II, and IV HDACs was studied by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and normalized to the housekeeping gene β-glucuronidase. Protein levels were evaluated by western blotting.We found that mRNA levels of class II and IV HDACs were downregulated in glioblastomas compared to low-grade astrocytomas and normal brain tissue (7 in 8 genes, p < 0.05). The protein levels of class II HDAC9 were also lower in high-grade astrocytomas than in low-grade astrocytomas and normal brain tissue. Additionally, we found that histone H3 (but not histone H4) was more acetylated in glioblastomas than normal brain tissue.Our study establishes a negative correlation between HDAC gene expression and the glioma grade suggesting that class II and IV HDACs might play an important role in glioma malignancy. Evaluation of histone acetylation levels showed that histone H3 is more acetylated in glioblastomas than normal brain tissue confirming the downregulation of HDAC mRNA in glioblastomas.Gliomas, the most common brain tumor, are currently classified as astrocytic, ependymal, oligodendroglial and choroid plexus tumors. Among astrocytic tumors, glioblastoma (World Health Organization grade IV [1]) is the most lethal primary malignant brain tumor. Although considerable progress has been made in its treatment, the clinical prognosis associated with this tumor remains poor.Histone deacetylases (HDACs) have recently become recognized as a promising target for cancer therapy, including for the treatment of glioblastomas [2]. Together with histone acetyltransferases (HATs), HDACs are responsible for chromatin packaging, which influences the transcription process. In gene