title: The selective expression of ret finger protein in endometrial cancer: can RFP be a marker of serous carcinomas?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Endometrial cancer is a common malignancy of the gynecological system and has been classified into two major groups, Types I and II. Type I tumors are estrogen-related, low-grade endometrioid tumors, whereas type II tumors are aggressive, high-grade non-endometrioid tumors. Ret finger protein is a nuclear transcription factor with a tripartite motif that is highly expressed in different tumor cells.
  
  
  METHODS
  To analyze the expression of ret finger protein in endometrial tissues and cancer, 18 cases of secretory and proliferative endometrium, endometrial polyp, endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia and 21 cases of types I and II endometrial carcinoma were evaluated immunohistochemically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although rare cases of secretory endometrium showed a weak focal nuclear positivity, remaining proliferative endometrium, endometrial hyperplasia and type I endometrioid cancer cases were negative. In contrast, all cases of serous cancers showed strong nuclear positivity. After these strong positive results for serous endometrial cancer, 12 more cases of ovarian and endometrial serous carcinoma cases were added to the study. All of the additional cases were also strongly positive for ret finger protein.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that ret finger protein might play a role in the carcinogenesis of the serous tumors of gynecological system and can be used to differentiate serous carcinomas from other epithelial tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gaye Güler
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Tezel
authors.forename: Zehra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ordulu
authors.forename: Ciğdem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hımmetoğlu
authors.forename: Alp
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Usubütün
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D018269:Carcinoma, Endometrioid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D000070584:Tripartite Motif Proteins
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C064419:TRIM27 protein, human; D000070584:Tripartite Motif Proteins