RESUMO
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis of endometrial carcinoma has not been clear yet. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of expression of CD44v6, bcl-2, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on oncogenesis and progression in endometrial carcinoma. METHODS: The expression levels of CD44v6, bcl-2, and VEGF were determined using immunohistochemistry in 55 cases with endometrial adenocarcinoma, 10 cases each of normal proliferative endometrium, simple hyperplasia, and atypical hyperplasia, respectively. RESULTS: (1)The expression of CD44v6 and VEGF increased gradually from normal proliferative endometrium to simple hyperplasia, atypical hyperplasia,and adenocarcinoma, which showed highly significant difference (P< 0.001, P< 0.001), whose ratios were 10%, 40%, 60%, 78.18% and 0%, 0%, 10%, 83.64%,respectively. While the expression of bcl-2 showed no significant difference among the above different tissues. (2)The CD44v6 expression in endometrial carcinoma was inversely associated with surgical stages and lymph node metastasis(P< 0.05, P< 0.01). The bcl-2 expression was found to be significantly related to histologic grades of the tumor (P< 0.05). The VEGF expression was significantly associated with surgical stages, myometrial invasion, and lymph node status. (3)There was statistically significant correlation between bcl-2 and CD44v6, bcl-2 and VEGF expression (P< 0.05, P< 0.05). (4)The univariate analysis revealed that the expression of CD44v6 and bcl-2 were significantly related to the prognosis of the patients (P< 0.01, P< 0.05). Cox proportional hazards model analysis showed that the prognosis was independently affected by age, surgical stage, and CD44v6 expression. CONCLUSION: CD44v6, bcl-2, and VEGF play roles in oncogenesis and progression of endometrial adenocarcinoma. Detection of these gene proteins may be helpful for early diagnosis, prognosis prediction, and treatment of endometrial carcinoma.
