Expression of Wnt 1 and beta-catenin in epithelial ovarian cancer / 대한산부인과학회지

OBJECTIVE: We were trying to identify the expression of Wnt 1 and beta-catenin in normal ovarian epithelium and epithelial ovarian tumor. METHODS: We used archival formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues from Comprehensive Gynecologic Cancer Center and the Department of Pathology at Bundang CHA Hospital from 2000 to 2005. Immunohistochemical staining for Wnt 1 and beta-catenin was performed on the ovarian epithelial tissues. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 10.1 for Windows and significance was defined as P<0.05. RESULTS: Of 114 cases, the cases were composed of 54 carcinomas, 40 borderline tumors, 12 benign tumors and 8 normal control ovarian tissues. Abnormal nucleocytoplasmic expression of beta-catenin was found in 4 endometrioid carcinomas. The nuclear expression of beta-catenin was found especially in the components of the endometrioid carcinoma (28.6%, P<0.05). Wnt 1 was overexpressed in all 9 clear cell carcinomas, but not frequent in the other types of malignant tumors (P<0.05). We found a statistically significant correlation between beta-catenin nuclear localization and endometrioid carcinomas. And we found a significant correlation between Wnt 1 expression and clear cell carcinomas. CONCLUSION: It does not seem that Wnt 1 over expression directly provoke the nuclear localization of beta-catenin. But, deregulation of beta-catenin and Wnt 1 may play a role in the pathogenesis of ovarian epithelial carcinogenesis of endometriod carcinoma and clear cell carcinoma. Evaluating this avenue of regulation of beta-catenin and Wnt protein in ovarian epithelial carcinoma may provide a new direction for early diagnosis and treatment in ovarian epithelial carcinoma and provide opportunities for making a certain biomarkers.

A clinical study of borderline malignant tumors of the ovary / 부인종양

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and histopathological features, and to find relationship between treatment modality and prognosis of borderline ovarian tumors. METHODS: Ninety-three cases of borderline ovarian tumors that had been treated were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Histologic types of this study group composed of 67 cases of mucinous borderline tumor, 23 cases of serous borderline tumor, 2 cases of mixed type, and 1 case of Brenner tumor. The mean age was 41.6 years (range 14 to 83), and 41 (44.1%) patients were nullipara. The most common chief complaint was palpable mass (39.8%) and asymptomatic cases were presented in 23 patients (24.7%). The cases of elevated serum CA125 (< or =35 IU/ml) were 25.8% in mucinous type and 61.9% in serous type. Surgical staging was completed in 57 cases and other 36 cases were incompletely staged. 45 cases were managed by conservative surgery. There were 4 cases with recurrence, and all of them were related to conservative surgery. Chemotherapy was given to 40 cases. Mean follow-up period was 27.3 months. One patient expired during follow-up, and overall 5-year survival rate was 95.2%. CONCLUSION: Borderline ovarian tumors have a good prognosis. But recurrence rate was high in conservative surgery. In conclusion, careful preoperative evaluations, complete surgical exploration and long-term follow-up after treatment are needed.

Alterations in Promoter Usage and Expression Levels of Insulin-like Growth Factor-II and H19 Genes in Ovarian Cancers / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVE: To establish the possible role of imprinting in ovarian cancer, we determined the imprinting status of both IGF-2 and H-19 genes in ovarian cacner, borderline tumors of ovary, benign ovarian tumor and normal ovarian tissues. METHODS: An allelictyping assay was performed using a PCR-RFLP-based method for identification of heterozygous informative cases. The usage of Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-2) promoters was examined by RT-PCR using promoter-specific primers. The mRNA expression of IGF-2 and H19 was quantified using a densitometer. RESULTS: Loss of imprinting (LOI) of IGF-2 was observed in the order of borderline tumor (77%)>cancer (71%)>benign tumor (60%)>normal ovarian tissues (50%) respectively. And the LOI of H19 gene was not detected in the normal and benign tissues but observed in the borderline tumor and cancer tissues, respectively. The usage of promoter P1, P2, P3 and P4 were observed different pattern in normal, benign tumor, borderline tumor and cancer tissues. The activity of mRNA expression of promoter P4 was higher than other promoters. The cancer tissues predominantly used promoter P1, P2 with relative silencing of the promoter P3. The ovarian cancer tissues showed the higher expression levels of the IGF-2 but a down- regulation of the H19 relative to normal tissues. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that LOI, deregulation of the IGF-2 promoters, and the altered expression levels of the IGF-2 and H19 gene might be associated with progression of ovarian cancer.