[Significance of expression of THY1 protein in epithelial ovarian cancer].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of THY1 protein expression in epithelial ovarian cancer.


METHODS
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining were used to detect the protein expression of THY1, Ki67 and cell apoptosis in 76 epithelial ovarian cancers by tissue microarray. The correlation between THY1 expression and patients' clinical features was analyzed.


RESULTS
Of the 76 epithelial ovarian cancer samples, 64 were informative for IHC and TUNEL assays and 42 (65.6%) among them showed down-regulated/loss expression of THY1 protein. A significant positive correlation of THY1 protein expression with clinical stage and distant metastasis was observed in this ovarian cancer cohort (P < 0.05). The more advanced the tumor stage, the more frequency of loss expression of THY1 protein. In addition, the mean positive rate of Ki67 staining in tumors with down-regulated/loss expression of THY1 was 33.7% +/- 3.5%, significantly higher than that in the tumors with normal expression of THY1 (17.3% +/- 6.1%, P = 0.0027). However, no significant correlation was observed between THY1 protein expression and tumor cell apoptosis as well as patients' survival in this series (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Down-regulated/loss expression of THY1 protein in epithelial ovarian cancer is significantly correlated with cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in the epithelial ovarian cancer, and it may be used as one of the new molecular biomarkers to predict the disease progression in patients.
Yang
Guo-fen
GF
Department of Gynecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
Chao
Kui
K
Li
Xiao-ming
XM
Rao
Hui-lan
HL
Deng
Hai-xia
HX
Wu
Hong-mei
HM
Xie
Dan
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D018282:Cystadenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018284:Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism*
D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens