Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
Exp Mol Pathol. 2021 Oct;122:104670. doi: 10.1016/j.yexmp.2021.104670. Epub 2021 Jul 31.
Background there is a need for novel biomarkers and targeting therapies for predicting Endometrial carcinoma (EC) progression and recurrence. TMEFF2 is a gene that was found to play a role in EMT. SMOC-2 is expressed in embryogenesis and it was identified as a recent stem cell-related gene that has a role in cancer progression. SRY-box 17 (SOX17) is a member of the SRY-related HMG-box (SOX) family of transcription factors. Dysregulation or downregulation of SOX17 expression was found in many cancer tissues.
In the present study, we aimed to assess the tissue protein expressions of TMEFF2, SMOC-2, and SOX17 in EC using immunohistochemistry to evaluate their clinicopathological values and prognostic roles in EC patients.
This is prospective cohort study included 120 patients with EC. Sections from 120 paraffin blocks were retrieved and stained with TMEFF2, SMOC-2, and SOX17 using immunohistochemistry, the expression of markers in all tissue samples was assessed, analyzed and correlation of pathological parameters with the levels of expression was done. All patients were followed up till death or till the last known alive data for about 50 months (range from 25 to 60).
TMEFF2, SMOC-2 expression was correlated with the presence of lymph node metastases (p = 0.023), distant metastasis (p = 0.039) recurrence of the tumor after successful therapy, overall survival, and disease-free survival (p < 0.001). SOX17 positive expression was positively correlated with low grade (p = 0.019), absence of lymph node metastasis (p = 0.001), absence of distant metastasis (p = 0.013), low stage (p = 0.03), and its negative expression was positively correlated with recurrence of the tumor after successful therapy, overall survival and disease-free survival (p = 0.001). In conclusion, we demonstrated that both TMEFF2 and SMOC-2 were highly expressed in EC and were associated with a shortened survival rate, dismal outcome, and poor prognosis in EC patients. While SOX17 expression was related to a favorable outcome and its down-regulation was associated with dismal EC patient's survival.
本研究旨在通过免疫组织化学评估 TMEFF2、SMOC-2 和 SOX17 在子宫内膜癌（EC）中的组织蛋白表达，评估其在 EC 患者中的临床病理价值和预后作用。
这是一项前瞻性队列研究，纳入了 120 例 EC 患者。从 120 个石蜡块中取出切片，用免疫组织化学法染色 TMEFF2、SMOC-2 和 SOX17，评估所有组织样本中标志物的表达，并对病理参数与表达水平进行分析和相关性分析。所有患者均随访至死亡或最后一次已知存活数据，随访时间约为 50 个月（范围为 25 至 60 个月）。
TMEFF2、SMOC-2 的表达与淋巴结转移（p=0.023）、远处转移（p=0.039）、成功治疗后肿瘤复发、总生存和无病生存（p<0.001）有关。SOX17 阳性表达与低级别（p=0.019）、无淋巴结转移（p=0.001）、无远处转移（p=0.013）、低分期（p=0.03）有关，其阴性表达与成功治疗后肿瘤复发、总生存和无病生存（p=0.001）有关。结论：我们证明 TMEFF2 和 SMOC-2 在 EC 中高表达，与 EC 患者生存率降低、预后不良和预后差有关。而 SOX17 的表达与良好的预后有关，其下调与 EC 患者预后不良有关。
