The long pentraxin PTX3 as a correlate of cancer-related inflammation and prognosis of malignancy in gliomas

• Inflammation is a component of glioma microenvironment.
• The long pentraxin PTX3 is a candidate marker of inflammation.
• PTX3 is produced in human gliomas by tumoral cells and CD68 positive macrophages.
• PTX3 levels are correlated with the tumour grade and histopathological diagnosis.
• PTX3 may represent a new marker of cancer-related inflammation and glioma behaviour.

Inflammation is a component of glioma microenvironment. PTX3 is a component of the humoral arm of innate immunity and a candidate marker of inflammation.In the present study we assessed the expression of PTX3 in gliomas by immunohistochemistry. PTX3 expression differed across low and high-grade tumors based on histopathological diagnosis and clinical severity, positively correlating with tumor grade and severity. In a multivariate logistic regression model, only the PTX3 score was significantly associated with the presence of a high-grade tumor. Thus, PTX3 may represent a new marker of cancer-related inflammation and glioma malignancy.