Loss of β-Catenin Is Associated With Poor Survival in Ovarian Carcinomas

Abstract

The catenins (alpha-, beta- and gamma-) are cytoplasmic proteins that bind to the conserved tail of the epithelial cadherin molecule. The function of epithelial cadherin at the adherens junctions is dependent on the catenins for efficient cell-to-cell adhesion. Loss of catenin expression has been reported in several human cancers and associated with poor tumor differentiation, advanced tumor stage, and poor patient survival. In this study, we investigated the clinical relevance of alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin immunoexpression in 104 cases of primary ovarian carcinoma with respect to clinicopathological features and as predictors of disease recurrence and prognosis. The clinicopathological parameters studied were International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, histological type, tumor differentiation, peritoneal metastases, residual postoperative tumor, integrity of the tumor's serosal surface, peritoneal cytology, and lymphatic/vascular invasion. Negative immunoreactivity of alpha-catenin, beta-catenin, and gamma-catenin was observed in 22 (21%), 15 (14%) and 23 (22%) cases, respectively. Immunoreactivity of alpha-catenin and gamma-catenin did not correlate with any of the clinicopathological parameters tested. The immunoexpression pattern of beta-catenin correlated with histological type (p = 0.026) and with a poorer overall survival in univariate analyses (p = 0.022). In the group of serous carcinomas, beta-catenin-immunoexpression associated significantly with overall survival. Patients with beta-catenin-negative serous carcinomas had a poorer overall survival than patients with beta-catenin-positive serous carcinomas (p = 0.013). In the multivariate analysis, negative expression of beta-catenin (p = 0.003) and the presence of residual tumor (p = 0.019) were the two most important independent prognostic factors predicting poorer overall survival. In conclusion, negative immunoreactivity of beta-catenin in serous carcinomas and the presence of residual tumor seem to be useful markers in selecting patients likely to have an unfavorable course.

Antisense Suppression of Pygopus2 Results in Growth Arrest of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

“…There is much evidence that the canonical Wnt pathway does not likely play a role in epithelial ovarian cancer tumors that are not of endometrioid origin (14,27,28). Our results were consistent with this established observation.…”

Reduced expression of E-cadherin/catenin complex in hepatocellular carcinomas

“…Unlike most previous reports [38][39][40][41] , which revealed only one or a few members of this complex were associated with patients' survival, our result demonstrated that all molecules of E-cadherin/catenin complex were significantly correlated with HCC patients' survival. However, when E-cadherin/catenin complex status and other clinicopathological parameters were analyzed by the Cox regression model, abnormal expression of the E-cadherin/catenin complex was not found to be an independent prognostic factor.…”

Low membranous expression of β-catenin and high mitotic count predict poor prognosis in endometrioid carcinoma of the ovary

“…18 This study's authors also stated that in early stage ovarian cancer, determination of the b-catenin expression pattern could prove to be useful in selecting low-risk patients, 18 although opposite reports have also been reported. [54][55][56] In our cohort, we found that patients exhibiting low membranous b-catenin expression had a poor outcome compared with those showing high membranous expression. In addition, patients showing nuclear staining were in an intermediate risk group.…”