Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, School of Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Biomed Res Int. 2022 Sep 27;2022:4070368. doi: 10.1155/2022/4070368. eCollection 2022.
BACKGROUND: Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most common gynecologic malignancy, mostly in postmenopausal women. The gold standard treatment for EC is surgery, but in the early stages, it is possible to opt for conservative treatment. In the last decade, different clinical and pathological markers have been studied to identify women who respond to conservative treatment. A lot of immunohistochemical markers have been evaluated to predict response to progestin treatment, even if their usefulness is still unclear; the prognosis of this neoplasm depends on tumor stage, and a specific therapeutic protocol is set according to the stage of the disease. OBJECTIVE: (1) To provide an overview of the conservative management of Stage 1A Grade (G) 2 endometrioid EC (FIGO) and the oncological and reproductive outcomes related; (2) to describe the molecular alterations before and after progestin therapy in patients undergoing conservative treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic computerized search of the literature was performed in the main electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, and Cochrane Library), from 2010 to September 2021, in order to evaluate the oncological and reproductive outcomes in patients with G2 stage IA EC who ask for fertility-sparing treatment. The expression of several immunohistochemical markers was evaluated in pretreatment phase and during the follow-up in relation to response to hormonal therapy. Only scientific publications in English were included. The risk of bias assessment was performed. Review authors' judgments were categorized as "low risk," "high risk," or "unclear risk" of bias. RESULTS: Twelve articles were included in the study: 7 observational studies and 5 case series/reports. Eighty-four patients who took progestins (megestrol acetate, medroxyprogesterone acetate, and/or levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine devices) were analyzed. The publication bias analysis turned out to be "low." 54/84 patients had a complete response, 23/84 patients underwent radical surgery, and 20/84 had a relapse after conservative treatment. Twenty-two patients had a pregnancy. The length of follow-up was variable, from 6 to 142 months according to the different studies analyzed. Several clinical and pathological markers have been studied to identify women who do not respond to conservative treatment: PR and ER were the most studied predictive markers, in particular PR appeared as the most promising; MMR, SPAG9, Ki67, and Nrf2-survivin pathway provided good results with a significant association with a good response to progestin therapy. However, no reliable predictive markers are currently available to be used in clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: The conservative treatment may be an option for patients with stage IA G2 EEC who desire to preserve their fertility. The immunohistochemical markers evaluation looks promising in predicting response to conservative treatment. Further large series and randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm these results.
背景:子宫内膜癌(EC)是最常见的妇科恶性肿瘤之一,主要发生在绝经后妇女中。EC 的金标准治疗是手术,但在早期,也可以选择保守治疗。在过去的十年中,已经研究了许多临床和病理标志物来识别对保守治疗有反应的女性。已经评估了许多免疫组化标志物来预测孕激素治疗的反应,尽管其用途仍不清楚;这种肿瘤的预后取决于肿瘤分期,并根据疾病的分期制定具体的治疗方案。 目的:(1)概述 FIGO 分期 1A 级 G2 子宫内膜样 EC 的保守管理以及相关的肿瘤学和生殖结局;(2)描述接受保守治疗的患者在孕激素治疗前后的分子变化。 材料和方法:系统地在主要电子数据库(MEDLINE、Embase、Web of Science、PubMed 和 Cochrane Library)中进行了文献计算机检索,检索时间从 2010 年到 2021 年 9 月,以评估要求保留生育能力的 G2 期 IA EC 患者的肿瘤学和生殖结局。在治疗前和随访期间评估了几种免疫组化标志物的表达,以评估其对激素治疗的反应。仅纳入英文的科学出版物。进行了偏倚风险评估。审查作者的判断分为“低风险”、“高风险”或“不确定风险”。 结果:共纳入 12 篇研究:7 项观察性研究和 5 项病例系列/报告。分析了 84 名接受孕激素(甲地孕酮、醋酸甲羟孕酮和/或左炔诺孕酮宫内节育器)治疗的患者。结果表明,发表偏倚分析为“低”。84 例患者中,54 例完全缓解,23 例行根治性手术,20 例保守治疗后复发。22 例患者怀孕。根据不同的研究,随访时间从 6 到 142 个月不等。已经研究了几种临床和病理标志物来识别对保守治疗无反应的女性:PR 和 ER 是研究最多的预测标志物,尤其是 PR 似乎是最有前途的标志物;MMR、SPAG9、Ki67 和 Nrf2-survivin 通路具有良好的效果,与孕激素治疗的良好反应显著相关。然而,目前尚无可靠的预测标志物可用于临床实践。 结论:对于要求保留生育能力的 IA G2 EEC 患者,保守治疗可能是一种选择。免疫组化标志物评估在预测保守治疗反应方面具有广阔的前景。需要进一步开展大型系列和随机临床试验来证实这些结果。
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