Expression and activity of the calcitonin receptor family in a sample of primary human high-grade gliomas

Abstract

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive type of primary brain cancer. With median survival of less than 15 months, identification and validation of new GBM therapeutic targets is of critical importance. Results: In this study we tested expression and performed pharmacological characterization of the calcitonin receptor (CTR) as well as other members of the calcitonin family of receptors in high-grade glioma (HGG) cell lines derived from individual patient tumours, cultured in defined conditions. Previous immunohistochemical data demonstrated CTR expression in GBM biopsies and we were able to confirm CALCR (gene encoding CTR) expression. However, as assessed by cAMP a..