Overexpression of YES1 is associated with favorable prognosis and increased platinum-sensitivity in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

AIMS

The prognostic application of YES1 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is currently unclear. We aimed to investigate the expression of YES1 and its correlation with survival outcome in patients with EOC.

METHODS

A retrospective study of patients diagnosed with EOC at the Cancer Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China between 2002 and 2013 was conducted. The immunohistochemical expression of YES1 was assessed using tissue microarray. Survival rates were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared between groups using the log-rank test. Multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTS

A total of 132 patients with EOC were enrolled. Patients in the YES1-high group exhibited significantly better OS and PFS, compared with those in the YES1-low group (P=0.02 and P=0.03, respectively). Further univariate and multivariate regression analyses indicated YES1 as an independent prognostic factor for the OS of patients with EOC. Notably, within the high YES1 expression group, 40 cases (74.1%) were of the platinum-sensitive group while 14 (25.9%) overlapped were of the platinum-resistant group. Conversely, in the low YES1 expression group, 11 cases (47.8%) were platinum-sensitive, and 12 (52.2%) platinum-resistant. Overall, patients within the high YES1 expression group were deemed significantly more sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy than the low YES1 expression group (P=0.03), and YES1 levels were consistently and significantly higher in the platinum-sensitive group.

CONCLUSIONS

High YES1 cytoplasmic expression in EOC patient tissue is significantly correlated with favorable prognosis. Patients with high YES1 expression tend to be sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy.