Axl and prostasin are biomarkers for prognosis of ovarian adenocarcinoma.

In this study, the protein levels of Axl and prostasin in malignant neoplasms of the ovary and their clinicopathologic significance were investigated. The protein levels of Axl and prostasin in ovarian adenocarcinomas (n = 80), serous cystadenoma (n = 15), mucinous cystadenomas (n = 15), and normal ovary tissues (n = 10) were measured using immunohistochemistry. The percentage of Axl-positive cases was significantly higher in ovarian adenocarcinoma (61.3%) than in mucinous adenoma tissues (13.3%; P < .001) and normal tissues (0.0%; P = .000). The percentage of prostasin-positive cases was significantly lower in ovarian adenocarcinoma (42.5%) than in mucinous adenoma tissues (86.7%; P = .000) and normal tissues (100%; P = .000). The expression of Axl was significantly lower in cases with G1 tumor and TNM stage I or II tumor with no lymph node metastasis than in cases with G3 tumor and TNM stage III or IV tumor with lymph node metastasis (P < .05 or P < .01). However, the expression pattern of prostasin was opposite to that of Axl (P < .01 or P < .01). Univariate Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a negative correlation between Axl expression (P = .000) and overall survival and a positive correlation between prostasin expression (P = .000) and overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that Axl-positive expression and prostasin-negative expression are independent bad prognostic predictors in ovarian adenocarcinoma. Our study suggested that Axl and prostasin expression may be closely related to carcinogenesis, metastasis, and prognosis of ovarian adenocarcinoma.