title: Chemoresistance is associated with Beclin-1 and PTEN expression in epithelial ovarian cancers.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the protein expression of the autophagy-related genes,BECN1andPTEN, and the association with drug resistance in epithelial ovarian cancers. In total, 40 patients with pathologically diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer were divided into a chemotherapy-sensitive group (n=20) and a chemotherapy-resistant group (n=20), according to the results of the pre- or post-operative normative chemotherapy and the post-operative follow-up. The protein expression of the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and theBECN1gene product, Beclin-1, was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in the 40 patients with ovarian carcinoma. The positive rate of Beclin-1 expression was significantly lower in the resistant group (35.0%) compared with the sensitive group (50.0%). The positive rate of PTEN expression was also significantly lower in the resistant group (30.0%) compared with the sensitive group (65.0%). Furthermore, the differences in the expression rates were revealed to be significant (P<0.05). The expression of Beclin-1 was identified to be positively correlated with the expression of PTEN (rs=0.816; P<0.0001). The low expression of the Beclin-1 and PTEN proteins in the ovarian cancer tissues was revealed to be closely associated with drug resistance. Therefore, Beclin-1 may interact with PTEN to participate in the mechanism of drug resistance and the changes in macrophage activity observed in cases of drug-resistant ovarian cancer.
authors: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors: Huanchun
authors: H
authors: Ying
authors: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medical College, Chengde, Hebei 067000, P.R. China.
authors: Donghui
authors: D
authors: Qu
authors: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors: Chuan
authors: C
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors: Tianshu
authors: T
authors: Ying
authors: Department of Oncology, The Fifth Hospital of Shenyang, Shenyang, Liaoning 110023, P.R. China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Lv
authors: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China.
authors: Shanshan
authors: S
authors: Jin
authors: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The Ninth Hospital of Shenyang, Shenyang, Liaoning 10024, P.R. China.
authors: Hongying
authors: H
authors: Xu
keywords: Beclin-1; autophagy; ovarian cancer; phosphatase and tensin homolog; platinum; resistant