Research Article Expressions of Endocan in Patients with Meningiomas and Gliomas Pinar Atukeren, 1 Ahmad Kunbaz, 1 Okan Turk, 2 Rahsan Kemerdere, 3 Mustafa Onur Ulu, 3 Nursel Turkmen Inanir, 4 and Taner Tanriverdi 3 1 Department of Biochemistry, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Neurosurgery, Samatya Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Neurosurgery, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Fatih, 34098 Istanbul, Turkey 4 Department of Forensic Medicine, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey Correspondence should be addressed to Taner Tanriverdi; tanerato2000@yahoo.com Received 20 April 2016; Revised 21 June 2016; Accepted 30 June 2016 Academic Editor: Lance A. Liotta Copyright © 2016 Pinar Atukeren et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. Endocan has been shown to be a marker for several cancers and may show degree of malignancy. Te aim of this study is to assess tissue levels of endocan in common brain tumors, namely, meningiomas, low-grade gliomas (LGGs), and high-grade gliomas (HGGs). Patients and Methods. Endocan was assayed by commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits in a total of 50 brain tumors (20 meningiomas, 19 LGGs, and 20 HGGs) and 15 controls. Te results were compared to control brain tissues. Results. Each tumor group showed signifcant higher levels of endocan compared to controls ( < 0.05). In addition, endocan levels showed steady increase from the least (meningiomas) to the most (HGGs) malignant tumors and positive correlation was noted between the degree of malignancy and endocan level ( = 0.0001). Conclusion. Endocan, a vital molecule for angiogenesis, is expressed in common brain tumors and results suggest that endocan could be a marker for malignancy. 1. Introduction Gliomas are the commonest intra-axial brain tumors gen- erally divided into two groups for practical purposes: low- grade (grades I and II) and high-grade (grades III and IV) gliomas [1]. High-grade gliomas (HGGs) are the most feared brain tumors since they have a high recurrence rate, especially in case of glioblastoma multiforme (grade IV); the median survival time is almost 15 months despite the current modern treatment modalities. Low-grade gliomas (LGGs) are also common and they can upgrade within 5 to 7 years and fnally behave as HGGs. On the other hand, the most common extra-axial tumors in the intracranial compartment are meningiomas, originated from the cap cells of arachnoid. Tese tumors were classifed by the World Health Organization into three grades (grades from I through III); grade III is the malignant form and recurrence is very high [1]. Since we do not have still curative treatment with respect to many solid cancers, identifying a specifc marker or a target becomes vital or understanding the molecular basis behind these tumors may lead us to developed curative treatment. Te rapidly expanding data on endothelial cell- specifc molecule-1 (ESM-1) or endocan shows that it is a soluble dermatan sulfate proteoglycan (PG), freely circulating molecule in the blood, and present primarily on the cell surface, in the extracellular matrix and body fuids [2]. Recent studies suggest that this molecule may be used as a target in the treatment of several cancers or may be a marker for the some tumors [3–6]. Endocan is produced by endothelial cells and includes a protein core, dermatan sulfate [7, 8]. Its overexpression in several disorders, such as sepsis [9], cancers [3–6], or infammatory conditions, suggests that these molecules may be involved in the pathogenesis. Te large body of evidence currently indicates that endocan not only is a biomarker of neoangiogenesis but also shows tumor Hindawi Publishing Corporation Disease Markers Volume 2016, Article ID 7157039, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7157039