The Relationship between the Expression of CD44 Protein in Meningioma and Cell Proliferation Index (ki67)

Abstract

Background: CD44 is overexpressed in many tumors and promotes tumor formation through interactions with the tumor microenvironment. This study aimed to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of CD44 and Ki-67 in different histologic types of meningioma and correlate their expression results with their clinicopathological variables. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 40 tissue blocks of patients with meningioma in the Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan from 2018-2020. Immunohistochemical staining using CD44 and Ki-67 was done separately on each slide. All slides were examined using an Olympus light microscope with 20X and 40X lenses. The positive controls used for CD44 and Ki-67 were, respectively, tonsil tissue and a case of invasive ductal carcinoma with a high Ki-67 proliferation index. Findings: There was no significant relation between age, sex, and disease recurrence with the expression of CD44. The proliferative activity of Ki-67 in grade I with a mean of 0.46 ± 1.25 was significantly lower than in grade II, III with a mean of 20.49 ± 17.13. Other variables, such as age, sex, and recurrence of meningioma, had no significant relationship with proliferative activity of Ki-67. The relationship between CD44 immunohistochemical expression and proliferative index of Ki-67 was direct and significant. Conclusion: CD44 is a marker of aggressiveness in meningiomas as it was significantly highly expressed in grade II and III meningiomas and was positively correlated with a higher Ki-67 proliferation index. Moreover, Ki-67 proliferation activity was significantly correlated with higher meningioma grades and brain invasion. © 2025 Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.