The association of cav-1 with tumors of the brain other than malignant gliomas deserves to be underlined, as well given the evidence suggesting its potential in predicting tumor grade and recurrence rates together with determining patient prognosis in oligodendrogliomas, ependymomas, meningiomas, vestibular schwannomas and brain metastases.
In conclusion, the present study indicates that caveolin-1 is not useful as diagnostic marker to differentiate grade II astrocytomas from oligodendrogliomas.
In contrast to astroglial tumors, the striking totality of grade II oligodendrogliomas and the large majority of grade III were lacking cav-1 expression.