High expression of ADAM10 predicts a poor prognosis for patients with glioblastoma

A disintegrin and metalloprotease 10 (ADAM10) is a member of the ADAM family of zinc proteases, which are involved in the shedding of extracellular domains of various cell surface molecule. Several ADAM family members, including ADAM10, have been implicated in cancer growth and progression, however the clinical impact of ADAM10 expression in glioblastoma remains unclear. ADAM10 has an essential role in Notch1 signaling, therefore, we examined the expressions of ADAM10 and Notch1 by immunohistochemistry in 50 patients with IDH1 wild-type glioblastoma. ADAM10 was highly expressed in the tumor specimen of 11 patients but ADAM10 was lowly expressed in 39 patients. No ADAM10 expression was found in normal brain tissue. ADAM10 expression was positively correlated with Notch1 expression (P = 0.002). Low expression of ADAM10 had a tendency to be longer survival in our study. In conclusion, the expression of ADAM10 had a correlation with that of Notch1 in glioblastoma and ADAM10 expression might correlate with tumor growth and be a prognostic factor for patients with glioblastoma.