ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of CD44v6 in patients with histologically confirmed endometrial cancer. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of CD44v6 in 39 hysterectomy specimens with the diagnosis of endometrial cancer. RESULTS: CD44v6 expression was detected in 8 specimens with no myometrial invasion of endometrial cancer, one specimen with 50% myometrial invasion. There was a significant association between CD44v6 expression and no myometrial invasion of endometrial cancer. There was a statistically significant association between CD44v6 expression and lymph node metastasis, lymphovascular involvement. And all cases of CD44v6 expression were FIGO stage I with histological grade 1 or 2. CD44v6 expression was statistically related with estrogen receptor expression. Although statistical significance was not revealed, it was likely that CD44v6 expression was related with progesterone receptor expression with positive predictive value of 6/9 (66.7%). CONCLUSION: Significant relationships between myometrial invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphovascular involvement, surgical stage and expression of estrogen receptor and CD44v6 expression suggest that CD44v6 expression could be a good prognostic factor. CD44v6 expression may have potential clinical usefulness if this expression is demonstrated in a further study with prehysterectomy sampling specimens containing endometrial cancer.