Comparative status of activated ERK1/2 and PARP cleavage in human gliomas.

Gliomas are the most common form of cerebral tumors. Understanding molecular features of glioma will eventually allow for targeted intervention and more promising approaches for treating gliomas. The present study is therefore carried out to check the levels of activated ERK1/2 with respect to phospho-tyrosine and cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP). Recent experiments support that extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK), a mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase might have a critical role in cell proliferation. PARP is a DNA-repair enzyme activated by DNA strand breaks. Overactivation of PARP after cellular insult lead to cell death caused by rapid depletion of cellular ATP. Three glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and two astrocytoma biopsies (core tumor) and peripheral tissues were analyzed for the expression of p-ERK1/2 and PARP. Results indicate higher p-ERK1/2 in GBM. Cleaved fragments of PARP (89 kDa) were found to be more in core tumor tissue samples as compared to peripheral tumor tissues of both astrocytoma and GBM.