Expression of CD117 in vasculogenic mimicry of epithelial ovarian cancer and its clinical significance / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the relationships of CD117 expression in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) tissues under vasculogenic mimicry (VM) with clinicopathologic features and the prognosis. Methods: A total of 120 paraffin samples of EOC with complete clinicopathologic data were collected. The CD31/periodic acid Schiff (PAS) dual staining was performed to identify the structure of VM. The expression of CD117 was detected by SP immunohistochemical method. The correlations of clinical pathologic data of EOC patients with CD117 expression and VM formation were studied retrospectively. The impacts of CD117 expression and VM formation on the survival time of patients with EOC were also evaluated. Results: The expression level of CD117 in EOC tissues, the presence of VM, and the expression level of CD117 in EOC tissues with VM were closely correlated to clinical stage, histologic differentiation and chemotherapy sensitivity in 120 patients (all P < 0.01). The proportion of patients with CD117+VM+ in all patients with later clinical stage (stage III-IV), low histodifferentiating grade (G3) and platinum resistance was significantly higher than those of patients with CD117+VM+, CD117+VM+ and CD117+VM+ (all P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the survival time of the patients in CD117+VM+ group was shorter than those in the other three groups (all P < 0.01). In addition, the survival time of the patients with CD117+ or VM+ was shorter than that of the patients with VM+ or CD117+, respectively (both P < 0.01). The expression of CD117 was positively correlated with the formation of VM in EOC tissues (r + 0.750, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The expression of CD117 in EOC tissues with VM is related to the degree of tumor malignancy. CD117 may be an important index for prognosis of EOC patients. CD117+-marked cancer stem cells may be involved in the occurrence of VM in EOC.