Chen Hong-Xia, Liu Yuan-Jiao, Li Hui, Wang Ze-Sheng
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Renmin Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430060, PR China.
Ai Zheng. 2004 Mar;23(3):254-8.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Cellular FLICE inhibitory protein (cFLIP) is a new-found member of the inhibitors of apoptosis. It has been reported to be overexpressed in various human cancers. We investigated the expression of cFLIP in endometrial adenocarcinoma and its association with clinicopathological features and proliferating cell nuclear antigen-labeling index (PCNA-LI).
cFLIP and PCNA-LI were determined in endometrial tissue samples including 42 endometrial adenocarcinoma tissues, 20 normal proliferative endometrial tissues, and 40 hyperplastic tissues with (n=10) or without (n=30) atypia by immunohistochemistry.
The positive rates of cFLIP expression in normal proliferative samples of endometrium, hyperplastic samples, and endometrial adenocarcinomas were (55.0+/-11.4)%, (72.5+/-7.1)%, and (83.3+/-5.8)%, respectively. Scoring on the basis of the percentage of positive cells and the intensity of positive immunostaining indicated that the expression level of cFLIP was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma than in normal proliferative endometrium (P< 0.01) and hyperplastic endometrium with or without atypia (P< 0.05);but no significant difference was found between the later two groups. PCNA-LI were (12.01+/-2.07)%,(20.26+/-6.99)%, (27.10+/-3.01)%, and (41.65+/-10.16)%, respectively in the adenocarcinoma groups with different cFLIP levels showed as -, +, ++, +++. Statistical analysis showed that cFLIP expression was significantly associated with PCNA-LI (r=0.7471,P< 0.01). In addition, cFLIP expression was also significantly associated with clinical stage (P< 0.05), the presence of invasion to >1/2 myometrium (P< 0.05) and positive lymph node metastasis (P< 0.01) of endometrial adenocarcinomas.
Overexpression of cFLIP is tumor specific, which may be a late event in the tumor development of endometrial adenocarcinoma.
细胞型FLICE抑制蛋白（cFLIP）是新发现的凋亡抑制蛋白家族成员。已有报道称其在多种人类癌症中过表达。我们研究了cFLIP在子宫内膜腺癌中的表达及其与临床病理特征和增殖细胞核抗原标记指数（PCNA-LI）的关系。
采用免疫组织化学法检测42例子宫内膜腺癌组织、20例正常增殖期子宫内膜组织以及40例有（n = 10）或无（n = 30）非典型增生的增生组织中cFLIP和PCNA-LI的表达。
正常增殖期子宫内膜样本、增生样本和子宫内膜腺癌中cFLIP表达的阳性率分别为（55.0±11.4）%、（72.5±7.1）%和（83.3±5.8）%。根据阳性细胞百分比和阳性免疫染色强度进行评分，结果显示cFLIP在腺癌中的表达水平显著高于正常增殖期子宫内膜（P < 0.01）以及有或无非典型增生的增生期子宫内膜（P < 0.05）；但后两组之间无显著差异。不同cFLIP水平（分别为 -、+、++、+++）的腺癌组中PCNA-LI分别为（12.01±2.07）%、（20.26±6.99）%、（27.10±3.01）%和（41.65±10.16）%。统计学分析表明，cFLIP表达与PCNA-LI显著相关（r = 0.7471，P < 0.01）。此外，cFLIP表达还与子宫内膜腺癌的临床分期（P < 0.05）、肌层浸润超过1/2（P < 0.05）以及阳性淋巴结转移（P < 0.01）显著相关。
cFLIP的过表达具有肿瘤特异性，可能是子宫内膜腺癌肿瘤发展过程中的晚期事件。
