Overexpression of Aurora B is associated with poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer patients.
Recent studies have indicated that Aurora B expression is related to cell proliferation and prognosis in many cancers, but its association with epithelial ovarian carcinoma is not fully understood. Therefore, we examined the Aurora B kinase expression in epithelial ovarian cancer patients. Using immunohistochemistry, the expression levels of Aurora B and phosphohistone H3 (Ser(10)) (mitosis-specific marker) were measured in 156 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. The expression levels of Aurora B at the protein and messenger RNA levels were examined using Western blotting and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. In total, 53 tumorous ovarian samples (34.0%) showed Aurora B overexpression, which was significantly higher than that found in the 15 normal ovarian tissue samples (0%, p = 0.006). The overexpression of Aurora B was also significantly higher in cases showing phosphohistone H3 (Ser(10)) overexpression (44.3% vs. 27.4%, p = 0.03). In addition, the expression of Aurora B in poorly and moderately differentiated carcinomas of the ovary was significantly higher than in well-differentiated carcinomas (53.6% vs. 28.2% vs.10.0%, respectively, p = 0.02). The overexpression of Aurora B was significantly higher in cases with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.01) and a positive ascites cytology (p = 0.008). Overall, the Aurora B overexpression group demonstrated a significantly shorter progression-free survival (p = 0.001) and overall survival (p = 0.023) than the Aurora B low expression group using univariate analysis (log-rank statistic). Aurora B is an effective predictor of aggressive epithelial ovarian carcinoma in terms of differentiation, metastasis, and prognosis.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yi-Jen
YJ
Chen
Chun-Ming
CM
Chen
Nae-Fang
NF
Twu
Ming-Shyen
MS
Yen
Chiung-Ru
CR
Lai
Hua-Hsi
HH
Wu
Peng-Hui
PH
Wang
Chiou-Chung
CC
Yuan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D006657:Histones / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D006657:Histones; C576921:AURKB protein, human; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases