Expression of N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) in central neurocytoma.

N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1), also known as Cap43, Drg-1, and rit42, is expressed in various normal tissues and cancers, in which it is often associated with a favorable prognosis. It also plays a critical role in central nervous system development, with NDRG1 deficiency resulting in neural defects in mice. Central neurocytoma (CN) is a relatively rare tumor of the neurocytes in the brain, which occurs mainly in young adults. In the present study, we found that tissue samples from four patients with CN had both nuclear and cytoplasmic/membranous expression of NDRG1 protein in highly differentiated CN tumor cells. NDRG1 was also expressed in intratumoral microvessels. Immunohistochemical study of serial sections from the same patients revealed a marked association between the expression pattern of NDRG1 and that of neuron-specific enolase, a tumor differentiation marker. The data presented in this study suggest that NDRG1 could be considered a potential differentiation marker for CN.