1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.
Eur J Cancer. 2010 Sep;46(13):2485-93. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2010.06.001. Epub 2010 Jul 3.
Inhibins, dimeric peptide hormones composed of an alpha-subunit and one of two possible beta-subunits (betaA or betaB), exhibit substantial roles in human reproduction and in endocrine-responsive tumours. However, the prognostic significance and clinical implications of the inhibin-alpha, -betaA and -betaB subunits in uterine non-endometrioid cancers are still quite unclear. A series of 41 uterine non-endometrioid carcinomas were immunohistochemically analysed with monoclonal antibodies against inhibin-subunits. The staining reactions were correlated with several clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcome. The inhibin-alpha subunit showed a significant association with age although the loss of this subunit did not affect the survival of patients with non-endometrioid carcinomas and did not constitute an independent prognostic parameter. The inhibin-betaA expression was not associated with any of the analysed clinicopathological parameters and did not affect patients' survival. In contrast, a low betaB-subunit demonstrated a significant better cause-specific survival. Moreover, inhibin-betaB did constitute an independent prognostic parameter in uterine non-endometrioid cancer patients. In contrast to inhibin-alpha and -betaA subunits, the inhibin-betaB subunit seems to have a substantial role in the carcinogenesis and pathology of uterine non-endometrioid carcinomas and might be used as a marker to identify high-risk patients and may aid in the selection of patients for a more aggressive adjuvant therapy.
抑制素是由一个α亚基和两个β亚基（βA 或βB）之一组成的二聚肽激素，在人类生殖和内分泌反应性肿瘤中发挥重要作用。然而，抑制素-α、-βA 和-βB 亚基在子宫非子宫内膜样癌中的预后意义和临床意义仍不清楚。我们用针对抑制素亚基的单克隆抗体对 41 例子宫非子宫内膜样癌进行了免疫组织化学分析。将染色反应与一些临床病理特征和临床结果进行了相关性分析。抑制素-α亚基与年龄有显著相关性，但该亚基的缺失并不影响非子宫内膜样癌患者的生存，也不构成独立的预后参数。抑制素-βA 的表达与任何分析的临床病理参数均无关，也不影响患者的生存。相反，βB 亚基低表达与更好的特定原因生存率显著相关。此外，抑制素-βB 在子宫非子宫内膜样癌患者中是一个独立的预后参数。与抑制素-α和-βA 亚基相反，抑制素-βB 亚基似乎在子宫非子宫内膜样癌的发生和病理中具有重要作用，可作为识别高危患者的标志物，并有助于选择更积极的辅助治疗的患者。
