Hematology Unit, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91240, Israel.
J Histochem Cytochem. 2010 Nov;58(11):1015-23. doi: 10.1369/jhc.2010.956821. Epub 2010 Aug 16.
Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an acute phase protein which is expressed primarily in the liver as a part of the systemic response to various injuries and inflammatory stimuli; its expression in ovarian tumors has not been described. Here, we investigated the expression of SAA in human benign and malignant ovarian epithelial tumors. Non-radioactive in situ hybridization applied on ovarian paraffin tissue sections revealed mostly negative SAA mRNA expression in normal surface epithelium. Expression was increased gradually as epithelial cells progressed through benign and borderline adenomas to primary and metastatic adenocarcinomas. Similar expression pattern of the SAA protein was observed by immunohistochemical staining. RT-PCR analysis confirmed the overexpression of the SAA1 and SAA4 genes in ovarian carcinomas compared with normal ovarian tissues. In addition, strong expression of SAA mRNA and protein was found in the ovarian carcinoma cell line OVCAR-3. Finally, patients with ovarian carcinoma had high SAA serum levels, which strongly correlated with high levels of CA-125 and C-reactive protein. Enhanced expression of SAA in ovarian carcinomas may play a role in ovarian tumorigenesis and may have therapeutic application.
血清淀粉样蛋白 A（SAA）是一种急性期蛋白，主要在肝脏中表达，作为对各种损伤和炎症刺激的全身反应的一部分；其在卵巢肿瘤中的表达尚未被描述。在这里，我们研究了 SAA 在人良性和恶性卵巢上皮性肿瘤中的表达。非放射性原位杂交应用于卵巢石蜡组织切片显示，正常表面上皮中 SAA mRNA 的表达大多为阴性。随着上皮细胞从良性和交界性腺瘤进展到原发性和转移性腺癌，表达逐渐增加。免疫组织化学染色观察到 SAA 蛋白的相似表达模式。RT-PCR 分析证实，与正常卵巢组织相比，卵巢癌中 SAA1 和 SAA4 基因的表达过度。此外，在卵巢癌细胞系 OVCAR-3 中发现 SAA mRNA 和蛋白的强表达。最后，卵巢癌患者的 SAA 血清水平较高，与 CA-125 和 C-反应蛋白水平较高密切相关。SAA 在卵巢癌中的表达增强可能在卵巢肿瘤发生中起作用，并可能具有治疗应用。
