title: Inhibin beta B: a useful tumor marker in uterine endometrioid adenocarcinomas?
abstract: Inhibins, dimeric peptide hormones composed of an alpha-subunit and one of two possible beta-subunits (betaA or betaB), exhibit substantial roles in human reproduction and in endocrine-responsive tumours. However, the prognostic significance and clinical implications of the inhibin-betaB subunit in uterine endometrioid adenocarcinomas is still not defined yet. A series of 227 uterine endometrioid adenocarcinomas of a previous well-characterized cohort were re-evaluated for the expression of the inhibin-betaB subunit and correlated with several clinicopathological characteristics and the clinical outcome. In this re-analysis, the betaB-subunit expression demonstrated a significant association with the patients' age and cervical involvement. However, inhibin-betaB did not significantly affect the patients survival in this large cohort group. However, patients with a higher intensity of betaB-subunit immunolabelling had a slightly worse survival expectation, although without any significant association, suggesting that this subunit might have a substantial role in the carcinogenesis and pathology of endometrioid adenocarcinomas. Thus, the inhibin-betaB subunit appears not to be a useful prognostic marker regarding endometrioid adenocarcinomas. However, further research is warranted in elucidating the possible implications of inhibin-βB and endometrial carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany. ioannis.mylonas@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mylonas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D018269:Carcinoma, Endometrioid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D028322:Inhibin-beta Subunits / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C422402:INHBB protein, human; D028322:Inhibin-beta Subunits