Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt,
Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2013 Dec;288(6):1371-6. doi: 10.1007/s00404-013-2863-3. Epub 2013 May 25.
Endothelial-cell-specific molecule-1 or endocan is a proteoglycan with tumorigenic activity through both its glycan and protein cores. Endocan mRNA is identified as one of the most significant molecular signatures defining a poor prognosis in lung, breast, kidney, and hepatocellular cancer.
To assess the clinical value of endocan expression in ovarian cancer tissues in association with other prognostic factors and its impact on overall survival.
Oncology unit of Zagazig University Hospitals, Egypt.
Prospective observational cohort.
One hundred primary ovarian cancer patients were recruited as study group, another 100 patients undergoing hysterectomy and oophorectomy due to uterine fibroid were the control group. Angiogenesis was determined by immunohistochemical staining, using anti-endocan, and anti vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibodies.
Endocan was expressed in endothelium of ovarian cancer tissue specimens in all patients with no expression in endothelium of normal ovarian tissue in the control group. VEGF was also expressed in endothelium of all specimens of ovarian cancer tissue, compared with 70% expression in normal ovarian tissue specimens in the control group. A significant association was found between endocan-microvessel density (MVD) and tumor histology, tumor size, staging, and grading. No significant association was found between VEGF expression and any of the clinicopathological variables. Overall survival of patients was inversely associated with endocan-MVD (P < 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that endocan-MVD was an independent prognostic marker for overall survival of epithelial ovarian cancer (P < 0.01).
Endocan could be a reliable marker to predict the survival in epithelial ovarian cancer patients.
内皮细胞特异性分子 1（endocan）或内皮细胞蛋白聚糖是一种具有致瘤活性的蛋白聚糖，其糖基和蛋白核心都具有致瘤活性。endocanmRNA 被鉴定为定义肺癌、乳腺癌、肾癌和肝细胞癌预后不良的最重要的分子特征之一。
评估卵巢癌组织中 endocan 表达与其他预后因素的相关性及其对总生存期的影响。
埃及扎加齐格大学医院肿瘤学单位。
前瞻性观察队列研究。
招募了 100 例原发性卵巢癌患者作为研究组，另招募 100 例因子宫肌瘤行子宫切除术和卵巢切除术的患者作为对照组。采用抗 endocan 和抗血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）单克隆抗体的免疫组织化学染色法检测血管生成。
endocan 在所有患者的卵巢癌组织标本的内皮细胞中表达，而在对照组的正常卵巢组织标本的内皮细胞中无表达。VEGF 也在所有卵巢癌组织标本的内皮细胞中表达，而在对照组的正常卵巢组织标本中则有 70%的表达。endocan-微血管密度（MVD）与肿瘤组织学、肿瘤大小、分期和分级之间存在显著相关性。VEGF 表达与任何临床病理变量之间均无显著相关性。患者的总生存期与 endocan-MVD 呈负相关（P < 0.01）。多因素分析显示，endocan-MVD 是上皮性卵巢癌总生存期的独立预后标志物（P < 0.01）。
endocan 可能是预测上皮性卵巢癌患者生存的可靠标志物。
