ABSTRACT
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy with high recurrence and poor prognosis duo to the lack of effective biomarkers. TBC1 domain family member 16 (TBC1D16), a GTPase-activating protein, is involved in regulating intracellular trafficking in tumorigenesis and metastasis. However, the clinical significance of TBC1D16 in EOC remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the expression and prognostic significance of TBC1D16 in EOC and its relationship with the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The tissue specimens included 156 histologically confirmed EOC and 30 normal ovarian tissues. The expression of TBC1D16 and VEGF was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and the immunoreactive score was calculated with signal intensity and percentage of positive cells. IHC results showed that TBC1D16 and VEGF were both mainly localized in cytoplasm of epithelial cells in normal ovarian tissues and were expressed in cancer cells. Based on the immunoreactive score, TBC1D16 expression in EOC was categorized as "high expression," compared with normal ovarian tissues (P < 0.05). The Chi-square test showed that high TBC1D16 expression was related to advanced pT stages (P = 0.029), but not correlated with other clinical features. Moreover, the TBC1D16 expression was significantly higher in EOC specimens with low VEGF expression (P < 0.001). Importantly, in both univariate and multivariate survival analyses, high expression of TBC1D16 was significantly correlated with good overall survival (OS). In conclusion, TBC1D16 is a predictive marker for favorable prognosis of EOC.
