Asparaginase-like protein 1 is an independent prognostic marker in primary endometrial cancer, and is frequently lost in metastatic lesions

Asparaginase‐like protein 1 expression in curettage independently predicts lymph node metastasis in endometrial carcinoma: a multicentre study

“…Protein expression assessed by IHC staining is found to be relatively similar in curettage samples and corresponding hysterectomy specimens for several markers (concordance rates of 70–100%), suggesting that immunohistochemical evaluation of curettage specimens may aid in the identification of high‐risk cases before surgery . Loss of ASRGL1 expression in the hysterectomy specimen is found to independently predict aggressive disease and poor disease‐specific survival in women with endometrial carcinoma . Less is known about ASRGL1 expression in preoperative samples, but combined low expression of ASRGL1 and PR was recently reported to predict high FIGO stage (III–IV) among women with endometrioid endometrial carcinoma .…”

“…The optimal staining evaluation and cut‐off for ASRGL1 need to be standardised before clinical implementation. However, different methods (the staining index versus percentage of cells with positive staining) for evaluation of ASGRL1 expression have been published with very similar results, indicating that ASRGL1 might be a robust biomarker.…”

“…Positive ASRGL1 staining in tumour cells was scored without considering subcellular localisation, as separate analysis of nuclear and cytoplasmic signal is reported to have no additional value . For each woman, a staining index (SI) based on all three cylinders was calculated by multiplying staining intensity (range 0–3) and area of positive stained tumour cells (1 = < 10%, 2 = 10–50%, 3 = > 50%) . Cut‐off for ASRGL1 staining was based on a previous study, defining high ASRGL1 as SI 2–9 and low ASRGL1 as SI 0–1.…”

“…For each woman, a staining index (SI) based on all three cylinders was calculated by multiplying staining intensity (range 0–3) and area of positive stained tumour cells (1 = < 10%, 2 = 10–50%, 3 = > 50%) . Cut‐off for ASRGL1 staining was based on a previous study, defining high ASRGL1 as SI 2–9 and low ASRGL1 as SI 0–1. Random TMAs ( n = 160 women) were evaluated by two independent investigators (TF and ILT) to assure inter‐observer agreement, and κ‐value for ASRGL1 in two groups was 0.90.…”

“…High expression of ASRGL1 is reported in several tumours, including breast, ovarian and cervical cancers . In endometrial carcinoma, ASRGL1 is reported to be a strong biomarker, and loss of gene and protein expression of ASRGL1 has been found to associate with features of aggressive disease and poor survival . Still, the biological importance of ASRGL1 in normal tissues and during cancer development is largely unknown.…”