The PLR is an easily accessible and cost-effective parameter, which may be used as a more useful marker for prediction of PE compared to platelet indices. Our study showed that PLR can serve as a useful diagnostic marker of PE.

Background/Aim: Uterine mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma (MLA) is a rare malignant tumor of the female genital tract. Patients and Methods: We reviewed 237 endometrial carcinoma cases and investigated the clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of uterine MLA. Results: We found that 3.0% (7/237) of the endometrial carcinoma cases were MLAs. Compared to endometrial endometrioid carcinoma, MLA showed larger tumor size, deeper myometrial invasion, increasingly advanced-stage disease, and more frequent lymphovascular space invasion. All MLAs exhibited architectural diversity, compactly aggregated small tubules, eosinophilic intraluminal secretions, overlapped and angulated nuclei, scant cytoplasm, and presence of spindle cells. All the MLAs expressed at least two mesonephric markers. All except one MLA harbored activating Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog mutations. All patients with MLA developed postoperative metastases. MLA had the lowest progression-free survival rate among different histological types of endometrial carcinoma. Conclusion: Uterine MLA is a highly aggressive gynecological malignancy, showing unique morphological and molecular features, frequent recurrences and metastases, as well as poor prognosis.Mesonephric adenocarcinoma (MA) is a rare malignant tumor of the female genital tract. It is thought to originate from the mesonephric remnants (1-3), which are usually located in the lateral wall of the vagina and uterine cervix, the broad ligament, and the ovarian hilum (4, 5). The term mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma (MLA) has been suggested for a malignant tumor arising in the uterine corpus and the adnexa. MLA shows similar histological, immunophenotypical, and genetic features to those of cervical MA (1,(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). It is morphologically characterized by various architectural patterns, such as tubular, ductal, papillary, spindle, solid, trabecular, retiform, and sex cord-like (1,6,8,9). Diverse growth patterns make it difficult 526

BackgroundHuman ovarian surface epithelial (HOSE) cells are a critical cell source for ovarian cancer research; however, they are difficult to obtain and maintain under standard laboratory conditions in large quantities. The aim of this study was to generate immortalized HOSE (IHOSE) cells with maintained properties to the original cell source, thereby guaranteeing a sufficiently large cell quantity for ovarian cancer research.MethodsHOSE cells isolated from four non-cancer patients and five IHOSE cell lines were established by induction of HPV-E6/E7 expression or SV40 large T antigen using a lenti-viral system. Each of IHOSE cells was confirmed to be distinct by STR profiling. RNA-sequencing was used to compare gene expression profiles in HOSE, IHOSE and ovarian cancer cells.ResultsRNA-sequencing results revealed a stronger linear correlation in gene expression between IHOSE and HOSE cells (R2 = 0.9288) than between IHOSE or HOSE cells and ovarian cancer cells (R2 = 0.8562 and R2 = 0.7982, respectively). The gene expression pattern of 319 differentially expressed genes revealed minimal differences between HOSE and IHOSE cells, while a strong difference between ovarian cancer cells and HOSE or IHOSE cells was observed. Furthermore, the five IHOSE cell lines displayed morphological characteristics typical of epithelial cells but showed a lower level of EpCAM, CD133 and E-cadherin, as cancer stem marker, than ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, unlike cancer cells, IHOSE cells could not form colonies in the anchorage-independent soft agar growth assay.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that five newly established IHOSE cell lines have characteristics of progenitor HOSE cells while exhibiting continuous growth, and thus, should be highly useful as control cells for ovarian cancer research.

BackgroundTranscription factors forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1) and paired box 3 (PAX3) have been reported to play important roles in various cancers. However, their role in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has not been elucidated yet. Therefore, we evaluated the expression and clinical significance of FOXO1 and PAX3 in EOC.MethodsImmunohistochemical analyses of FOXO1 and PAX3 in 212 EOCs, 57 borderline ovarian tumors, 153 benign epithelial ovarian tumors, and 79 nonadjacent normal epithelial tissues were performed using tissue microarray. Various clinicopathological variables, including the survival of EOC patients, were compared. In addition, the effect of FOXO1 on cell growth was assessed in EOC cell lines.ResultsFOXO1 and PAX3 protein expression levels were significantly higher in EOC tissues than in nonadjacent normal epithelial tissues, benign tissues, and borderline tumors (all p < 0.001). In EOC tissues, FOXO1 expression was positively correlated with PAX3 expression (Spearman’s rho = 0.118, p = 0.149). Multivariate survival analysis revealed that high FOXO1 expression (hazard ratio = 2.77 [95% CI, 1.48–5.18], p = 0.001) could be an independent prognostic factor for overall survival. Most importantly, high expression of both FOXO1 and PAX3 showed a high hazard ratio (4.60 [95% CI, 2.00–10.55], p < 0.001) for overall survival. Also in vitro results demonstrated that knockdown of FOXO1 was associated with decreased cell viability, migration, and colony formation.ConclusionsThis study revealed that high expression of FOXO1/PAX3 is an indicator of poor prognosis in EOC. Our results suggest the promising potential of FOXO1 and PAX3 as prognostic and therapeutic markers. The possible link between biological functions of FOXO1 and PAX3 in EOC warrants further studies.