title: High expression of epidermal growth factor-like domain 7 is correlated with poor differentiation and poor prognosis in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of epidermal growth factor-like domain 7 (EGFL7) in epithelial ovarian cancer, and to assess its relevance to clinicopathological characteristics and patients' survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 177 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer were enrolled in the current study. For each patient, a retrospective review of medical records was conducted. Immunohistochemical staining for EGFL7 was performed using tissue microarrays made with paraffin-embedded tissue block. EGFL7 expression levels were graded on a grade of 0 to 3 based on the percentage of positive cancer cells. We analyzed the correlations between the expression of EGFL7 and various clinical parameters, and also analyzed the survival outcome according to the EGFL7 expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of EGFL7 in ovarian cancer tissues was observed in 98 patients (55.4%). High expression of EGFL7 (grade 2 or 3) was significantly correlated with pathologic type, differentiation, stage, residual tumor after debulking surgery, lymphovascular space involvement, lymph node metastasis, high cancer antigen 125, peritoneal cytology, and ascites. Among these clinicopathologic factors, differentiation was significantly correlated with EGFL7 expression in multivariate analysis (p<0.05). Survival analysis showed that the patients with high EGFL7 expression had a poorer disease free survival than those with low EGFL7 expression (p=0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that EGFL7 expression is a novel predictive factor for the clinical progression of epithelial ovarian cancer, and may constitute a therapeutic target for antiangiogenesis therapy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University of Daegu, School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jinju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University of Daegu, School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Hae
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University of Daegu, School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Sung
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Catholic University of Daegu, School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Hoon Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Kyung Hee University College of Pharmacy, Seoul, Korea.; Department of Life and Nanopharmaceutical Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Hye
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University of Daegu, School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. drcys@cu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Youn Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D066255:EGF Family of Proteins; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018394:CA-125 Antigen; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D066255:EGF Family of Proteins; C527877:EGFL7 protein, human; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins
keywords: Ascites; CA125-Antigen; Epidermal growth factor; Ovarian neoplasms; Paraffin; Survival Analysis