Clinical significance of pmTOR expression in endometrioid endometrial carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Endometrial adenocarcinoma has been proposed, due to frequent activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway, as a candidate neoplasm for treatment with mTOR inhibitors. However, data on the expression of mTOR in endometrial cancer are lacking.


METHODS
We used immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression of pmTOR in 62 endometrial cancer surgical specimens.


RESULTS
The pmTOR protein was diffusely expressed in the cytoplasm of neoplastic epithelial cells, showing variable intensity. According to the chosen cutoff value, 34 (54.8%) out of 62 patients were scored as pmTOR-positive. pmTOR expression was significantly decreased in carcinomas with deep infiltration into the myometrium (P=.009), though it was not correlated with disease stage or lymph node metastasis. Univariate analysis showed that increased expression of pmTOR was significantly associated with better disease-free survival (P=.021).


CONCLUSIONS
We show for the first time an association between pmTOR and better survival in patients with endometrial cancer. Future studies to stratify endometrial tumors by pmTOR status are needed.
Choi
Chel Hun
CH
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Lee
Ji-Soo
JS
Kim
Seong Rim
SR
Kim
Tae-Joong
TJ
Lee
Jeong-Won
JW
Kim
Byoung-Gie
BG
Bae
Duk-Soo
DS
D018269:Carcinoma, Endometrioid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*
C546842:MTOR protein, human; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases