Gene expression profiling of ErbB receptors and ligands in human meningiomas.

ErbB family receptors mediate major cellular functions implied in tumorigenesis, though their role in meningiomas was not thoroughly studied. Meningiomas represent 30% of primary cranial tumors, are mostly benign, and prevail in the second half of life. Tumor therapy requires information about molecular alterations, thus we studied expression of ErbB receptor and ligand genes by real-time RT-PCR in different meningioma grades. Receptors were overexpressed (ErbB1, ErbB2) or underexpressed (ErbB3, ErbB4). Ligands EGF, TGFA, AREG, DTR, BTD were underexpressed and the neuregulins were overexpressed or underexpressed. A strong ErbB1-ErbB2 correlation was found. These data might be useful for gene therapy.