The expression of clusterin, bax, p53, Ki-67, and apoptotic index in epithelial ovarian tumors / 대한산부인과학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was (1) to evaluate the expressions of clusterin, bax, Ki-67, p53, and apoptotic index in epithelial ovarian tumors, borderline and malignant ovarian tumors, (2) to find out the correlation between their expressions and clinicopathological parameters, and (3) to evaluate the effect on the patient's survival according to their expressions. METHODS: The histological and clinical findings of 22 cases of ovarian cystadenomas, 44 cases of borderline tumors and 96 cases of carcinomas were evaluated. Expressions of clusterin, bax, Ki-67, p53, and apoptotic index were studied on paraffin-embedded tissue sections by immunohistochemical methods. RESULTS: The expressions of clusterin, p53, and Ki-67 were higher in ovarian carcinomas than borderline tumors. The overexpression of p53, and Ki-67 were frequent in high stage, poorly differentiated and bilateral ovarian carcinomas. The overexpressions of clusterin, bax, p53, and Ki-67 showed a statistically significant correlation with histologic type. Apoptotic index was higher in bax overexpression group, but there was no correlation with overexpression of clusterin or p53. Ki-67 was higher in p53 overexpression group, but there was no correlation with overexpression of clusterin or p53. There was no statistically significant correlation with each other between the overexpressions of clusterin, bax, p53, and Ki-67. The overexpressions of clusterin, Ki-67, p53 was associated with overall patient's survival in borderline significance. CONCLUSION: The overexpression of p53, and Ki-67 were frequent in poorly differentiated ovarian carcinomas. So the overexpression of p53, and Ki-67 can be used as prognostic factor. The overexpression of clusterin was more in epithelial ovarian carcinomas than in borderline tumors but showed no significant correlation with the overall patient's survival. Further studies are required to clarify the possibility of using clusterin for target therapy in epithelial ovarian carcinomas.