Death Receptor 6 as a Prognostic Marker in Low-grade Glioma

Low-grade gliomas (LGG) are heterogenous tumours, causing variable survivals in patients. Identifying molecular markers for a more accurate prognosis is, therefore, important. Since death receptor 6 (DR6) is up-regulated in gliomas and shows an aberrant signalling network, we tested its suitability as a prognostic marker.DR6 was investigated in patient samples via PCR and western blot. Clinical data were analysed and compared to The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) 'brain lower grade glioma' dataset.DR6 was found to be enhanced in LGG and its expression increased in recurrent LGG. The receptor showed a protective effect in primary LGG with a significantly elongated progression-free survival that was confirmed in the TCGA study. This effect was reversed in relapsed LGG in which cases with high DR6 expression reveal a shorter overall survival.DR6 is an interesting candidate for further studies regarding its effect as a prognostic marker, playing an opposing role in primary and relapsed LGG.