Type IV collagen-derived angiogenesis inhibitor: canstatin low expressing in brain-invasive meningiomas using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

PURPOSE: Brain invasion in meningiomas is considered an indicator of more aggressive behavior and worse prognosis. But the precise definition and the prognostic role of brain invasion remains unsolved duo to lacking a standardized workflow of surgical sampling and the histopathological detection. Searching for molecular biomarker expression correlating with brain invasion, could contribute to establish a molecular pathological diagnosis without problems of subjective interobserver variation and deeply understand the mechanism of brain invasion and develop innovative therapeutic strategies. METHODS: We utilized liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to quantify protein abundances between non-invasive meningiomas (n = 21) and brain-invasive meningiomas (n = 21) spanning World Health Organization grades I and III. After proteomic discrepancies were analyzed, the 14 most up-regulated or down-regulated proteins were recorded. Immunohistochemical staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein and most likely brain invasion-related proteins was performed in both groups. RESULTS: A total of 6498 unique proteins were identified in non-invasive and brain-invasive meningiomas. Canstatin expression in the non-invasive group was 2.1-fold that of the brain-invasive group. The immunohistochemical staining showed canstatin expressed in both groups, and the non-invasive group showed stronger staining for canstatin in the tumor mass (p = 0.0132) than the brain-invasive group, which showed moderate intensity. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the low expression of canstatin in meningiomas with brain invasion, a finding that provide a basis for understanding the mechanism of brain invasion of meningiomas and may contribute to establish molecular pathological diagnosis and identify novel therapeutic targets for personalized care. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11060-023-04256-z.