title: Investigation of prognostic significance of CD109 expression in women with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this study was to investigate the between cluster of differentiation 109 (CD109) expression and tumor diameter, invasion depth, tumor grade, presence of lymph-node metastasis, and overall survival in patients with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, which is the most common type of vulvar cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six patients who underwent an operation for vulvar cancer between 1999 and 2009 in our clinic were included in this study. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tumor diameter was not found to be significantly associated with CD109 expression, intensity of cytoplasmic staining, or combined score (P = 0.325, P = 0.169, P = 0.352, respectively). Invasion depth and combined score were also not significantly correlated with CD109 expression (P = 0.324 and P = 0.174 respectively). There was a negative correlation between invasion depth and the intensity of cytoplasmic staining (P = 0.042). There was no significant correlation between tumor stage and CD109 expression, the intensity of cytoplasmic staining, and the combined score (P = 0.574, P = 0.389, P = 0.605, respectively). A significant positive correlation was observed between tumor grade and CD109 expression, the intensity of cytoplasmic staining, and the combined score (P = 0.003, P = 0.018, P = 0.008, respectively). No significant difference was found between the percentages of CD109 expression in patients with positive (48%) and negative (11%) lymph nodes (P = 0.058). The percentage of CD109 expression did not significantly differ in relation to overall survival (P = 0.483).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Comprehensive and more extensive studies are needed to examine the relationship between CD109 expression and vulvar malignant lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dogubeyazıt State Hospital, Aǧrı ; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, izmir.
authors.forename: Pelin Özün
authors.initials: PÖ
authors.lastname: Ozbay
authors.forename: Tekin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ekinci
authors.forename: Seyran
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yiǧit
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yavuzcan
authors.forename: Selda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uysal
authors.forename: Ferit
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soylu
authors.forename: Fulya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cakalagaoglu
keywords: invasion depth; lymph-node metastasis; overall survival; tumor diameter; tumor grade