[The expressions and clinical significance of IGFBP-2, -3 in both serum and tumor tissues in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the serum levels of IGFBP-2, -3 and their proper roles in the regulation of IGF-II bioavailability in patients with ovarian tumor, and to investigate the correlation between the expressions of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 in ovarian tumor tissues and related clinicopathological characteristics.


METHODS
Serum levels of IGFBP-2, -3 and big/mature IGF-II were measured by Western ligand blot (WLB) and Western blot (WB) in patients with ovarian tumor (10 cases of benign tumor, 6 cases of borderline tumor and 10 cases of malignant tumor) and 10 cases of normal control. The expressions of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 were examined in 39 specimens of ovarian tumor (8 cases of benign tumor, 8 cases of borderline tumor and 23 cases of malignant tumor) and 4 cases of normal ovarian tissues by immunohistochemical staining.


RESULTS
The serum levels of both big and mature IGF-II in epithelial ovarian cancer (ovarian cancer) patients were significantly decreased compared with those of normal control and benign and borderline tumor (P<0.001 or P<0.01). The increased serum level of IGFBP-2 and decreased IGFBP-3 level were observed in patients with malignant ovarian tumors by comparing with those of patients with normal controls, benign and borderline tumor (P<0.001 or P<0.01). The expression of IGFBP-2 was significantly higher in malignant ovarian tumor tissues than those in normal control and benign ovarian tumors tissues (P<0.0001, P<0.001, and the expression of IGFBP-3 decreased significantly in lower differentiated ovarian cancer tissues compared with that in high and moderate differentiated ovarian cancer tissues (P<0. 05). CONCLUION: IGFBP-2 predominantly presents in the circulation of malignant patients in contrast to IGFBP-3, which may result in altered bioavailability of IGF-II in ovarian cancer, leading to the progress of tumor. The serum levels of both IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 and their expressions in tumor tissues are correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics of ovarian cancer patients. Our findings suggest that the presence of new mechanisms in the regulation of IGF-II bioavailability, and provide the evidence for the possibility to use IGFBP-2/IGFBP-3 as biological markers in diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian cancer.
Yan
Xiao-Juan
XJ
Department of Gynecology, Hebei Medical University Forth Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050011, China.
Tian
Ying
Y
Wang
Cui
C
Wang
Xiao-Ling
XL
Di
Jian-Ming
JM
Cheng
Jian-Xin
JX
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry; D018971:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
D018971:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 2; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II