title: Prognostic Significance of the Tumor-Stroma Ratio in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.
abstract: Tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has recently been identified as a promising prognostic parameter for several solid tumors. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic role of TSR in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and 838 EOC patients were enrolled in this study. TSR was estimated on hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained tissue sections from the most invasive part of the primary tumor. Patients were classified as stroma-rich or stroma-poor according to the proportion of stroma ≥50% or <50%. Chi-square test analysis revealed that TSR were significantly associated with FIGO stage, LN status, and recurrence or not (all of them P < 0.001). The higher stroma-rich proportions were found in EOC patients with advanced stage (36.13% versus 19.75%), LN metastasis (51.93% versus 27.25%), and recurrence (34.27% versus 6.82%). Stroma-rich EOC patients had obvious shorter median time of progression-free survival (29 versus 39 months) and overall survival (50 versus 58 months), respectively. TSR was an independent prognostic factor for the evaluation of PFS in EOC. Stroma-rich tumors had worse prognosis and higher risk of relapse compared with those in stroma-poor tumors in EOC patients. Considered easy to determine for routine pathological examination, TSR may serve as a new prognostic histological parameter in EOC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China ; Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin 300060, China ; National Clinical Research Centre of Cancer, Tianjin 300060, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China ; Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin 300060, China ; National Clinical Research Centre of Cancer, Tianjin 300060, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China.
authors.forename: Wenxin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China.
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000473:pathology*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult