The expression levels and clinical significance of MFG-E8 and CD133 in epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

The aim of our study was to test whether there is an association between high expression of milk fat globule EGF factor 8 (MFG-E8) and CD133 presence or clinical outcomes of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). MFG-E8 and CD133 expression levels were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 88 EOC tumor specimens. High expression of MFG-E8 directly and significantly correlated with the presence of CD133 immunostaining (R = 0.353, p=.001), whereas immunostaining of MFG-E8 and CD133 significantly correlated with FIGO stage, tumor grade, debulking status, the dualistic model, ascites status, and nonresponse to chemotherapy (p<.05). It was also found that high expression of MFG-E8 and CD133 presence is a potent predictor of poor clinical outcomes among patients with EOC. Our study is the first to show that high expression of MFG-E8 in EOCs positively correlates with CD133 presence. Further research on MFG-E8 in EOC is needed to determine whether MFG-E8 is a new tumor marker of ovarian cancer and a new target for anticancer therapy as well as whether it can interact with cancer stem cell inhibitors for the treatment of refractory tumors.

摘要

本研究旨在探讨乳脂肪球EGF因子8（MFG-E8）高表达与CD133阳性或上皮性卵巢癌（EOC）患者临床预后之间的关系。采用免疫组织化学方法检测88例上皮性卵巢癌标本中MFG-E8和CD133的表达水平。MFG-E8的高表达与CD133的阳性表达率直接显著相关（R=0.353, p=0.001）, 而MFG-E8和CD133的阳性表达率与FIGO分期、肿瘤分级、肿瘤减积状况、二元模型、腹水状况及化疗无反应均显著相关（p<0.05）。研究还发现, MFG-E8的高表达和CD133阳性是卵巢癌患者不良临床结局的有力预测因素。我们的研究首次表明EOC中MFG-E8的高表达与CD133阳性呈正相关。MFG-E8是否为卵巢癌新的肿瘤标记物和抗癌治疗的新靶点, 是否能与肿瘤干细胞抑制剂相互作用治疗难治性肿瘤, 有待进一步研究EOC中的MFG-E8。

The Chinese abstracts are translated by Prof. Dr. Xiangyan Ruan and her team: Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100026, China.

Keywords:

• Epithelial ovarian cancer
• MFG-E8
• CD133
• prognostic

Disclosure statement

All the coauthors declare no conflicts of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.