title: Prognostic significance of B-cells and pSTAT3 in patients with ovarian cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several previous studies have identified a strong association between T-cell infiltration and clinical outcome in ovarian cancer. The role of B-cells remains controversial, however.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-nine paraffin-embedded omental specimens derived from patients with high grade epithelial ovarian cancer were assessed. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed to characterize expression of CD19(+) B-cells and pSTAT3 as high (>50% positively staining cells [PSCs]) or low (<50% PSCs). The Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test was used to determine the association between clinicopathologic parameters and overall survival (OS). A multi-variate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis including nature of debulking (primary vs secondary), histology, tumor grade, receipt of prior chemotherapy, B-cell infiltration and pSTAT3 expression was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median OS was 160.6 months in those patients with low B-cell expression vs 47.3 months in those with high B-cell expression (P = 0.0015). Similarly, median OS was improved in those patients with low pSTAT3 expression (160.6 vs 47.9 months, P = 0.02). In a multivariate model to predict survival, only the degree of B-cell infiltration and clinical stage were retained. pSTAT3 expression did not enter the final model, possibly be due to a high positive correlation with B-cell infiltration (r = 0.82, P<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increased B-cell infiltration and pSTAT3 expression in omental tissue are associated with poorer survival.
authors: Department of Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California, United States of America.
authors: Chunmei
authors: C
authors: Yang
authors: Heehyoung
authors: H
authors: Lee
authors: Veronica
authors: V
authors: Jove
authors: Jiehui
authors: J
authors: Deng
authors: Wang
authors: W
authors: Zhang
authors: Xueli
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Stephen
authors: S
authors: Forman
authors: Thanh H
authors: TH
authors: Dellinger
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Wakabayashi
authors: Hua
authors: H
authors: Yu
authors: Sumanta
authors: S
authors: Pal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human