THY1基因在上皮性卵巢癌组织中的表达及其意义

Significance of expression of THY1 protein in epithelial ovarian cancer

目的探讨THY1基因在上皮性卵巢癌组织中的表达及其临床意义。方法应用免疫组织化学和末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶介导缺口末端标记法（TUNEL），检测76例上皮性卵巢癌组织芯片中THY1和Ki67的蛋白表达及细胞凋亡情况，收集患者的临床病理学和生存资料。结果在组织芯片中，64例上皮性卵巢癌组织的THY1表达得以成功检测，其中42例（65．6％）THY1蛋白表达下调。THY1蛋白表达与临床分期、远处转移有关。在THY1蛋白表达下调标本中，Ki67的抗原标记指数为33．7％±3．5％，显著高于THY1蛋白正常表达标本（17．3％±6．1％，P=0．003），而THY1蛋白表达与细胞凋亡无关（P=0．530）。22例THY1正常表达患者的平均生存时间为53．9个月，42例THY1表达下调患者的平均生存时间为41．6个月，两组生存率差异无统计学意义（P=0．907）。结论上皮性卵巢癌中THY1蛋白的表达下调与肿瘤细胞的增殖和转移密切相关，可以作为临床评估上皮性卵巢癌恶性进展的分子标志物。

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of THY1 protein expression in epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods Immunohistochemistry （IHC） and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling （TUNEL） staining were used to detect the protein expression of THY1, Ki67 and cell apoptosis in 76 epithelial ovarian cancers by tissue microarray. The correlation between THY1 expression and patients＇ clinical features was analyzed. Results Of the 76 epithelial ovarian cancer samples, 64 were informative for IHC and TUNEL assays and 42 （65.6%） among them showed down-regulated/loss expression of THY1 protein. A significant positive correlation of THY1 protein expression with clinical stage and distant metastasis was observed in this ovarian cancer cohort（P 〈 0.05）. The more advanced the tumor stage, the more frequency of loss expression of THY1 protein. In addition, the mean positive rate of Ki67 staining in tumors with down-regnlated/loss expression of THY1 was 33.7% ± 3.5% , significantly higher than that in the tumors with normal expression of THY1 （ 17.3% ± 6.1% , P = 0.0027）. However, no significant correlation was observed between THY1 protein expression and tumor cell apoptosis as well as patients＇ survival in this series （P 〉 0.05 ）. Conclusion Downregulated/loss expression of THY1 protein in epithelial ovarian cancer is significantly correlated with cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in the epithelial ovarian cancer, and it may be used as one of the new molecular biomarkers to predict the disease progression in patients.