Expression Of The Zinc Finger Protein KLF4 In Endometrial Carcinoma And Its Significance

Objective : To investigate the expression of the Zinc Finger Protein Kruppei-like Factor 4 (KLF4) mRNA in endometrial carcinoma and normal endometrium. To study its significance in etiology, early diagnosis and provide experimental and theoretical evidence for the treatment and prognosis of endometrial carcinoma.Methods: We compared KLF4 mRNA expression in 37 cases of endomefrial carcinoma to 26 cases of normal endometrium (control group), semi-quantitative Reverse transcript-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was utilized to examine KLF4 mRNA expression in the above endometrium. 37 cases of endometrial carcinoma were classified according to the system proposed by the FIGO(1988), stage I 19 cases, stage II 10 cases, stageIII 8 cases; Pathology grade G1 18 cases, G2 14 case, G3 5 cases. Another 26 cases of normal endometrium formed the control group. All of the above surgical specimens were immediately frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen after resection. Total RNA of the tissues was extracted by TRIzol method (Gibco BRL). First strand cDNA was synthesized, using Superscript Preamplification System (Gibco BRL) according to the instruction. PCR was carried out in 25 u 1 total reaction mixture, 3 -actin primers were added in the same reaction as well as KLF4 primers, and the expected PCR product of 242 bp was used as internal control. PCR was set up for 28 cycles: 40s at 94 C, 30s at 58 C, 40s at 72 C. The PCR products were electrophoresed onto agarose gel containing ethidium bromide. The images were analyzed with Multi-Analyst software (Bio-Rad) after scanned and the densities of KLF4 and 5 -actin bands were determined. The ratios of KLF4 to 3 -actin were compared in each group of sample.Results (1) Among all of the endometrial tissues, expression of KLF4 mRNA was detected. The expression of KLF4 mRNA in endometrial carcinoma is 0.38 + 0.19, while that is 0.72 + 0.16 in normal endometrium. Decreased expression of KLF4 mRNA was observed in endometrial carcinoma patients compared to normal endometrial tissues, the difference is obviously (P<0.01) . (2) Through analyzing the relationship betweenthe expression of KLF4 mRNA and the clinical stage of the endometrial carcinoma patients, we discovered the expression of KLF4 mRNA is 0.56 + 0.12 in stage I ,0.35+ 0.09 in stageII, and 0.17+0.08 in stageIII.The expression of KLF4 mRNA decreased with the clinical stage from I to III, the difference was obviously (P<0.01). (3) With the increasing of the pathologic grade from 1 to 3, decreased expression of KLF4 mRNA was observed in endometrial carcinoma patients, the difference was obviously (P<0.01) . The expression of KLF4 mRNA is 0.54 +0.11 in grade 1,0.38+0.09 in grade 2, and 0.15 + 0.09 in grade 3. (4) Among all of the normal endometrial tissues, expression of KLF4 mRNA in proliferative endometrial tissues was not significantly different from that in secretory endometrial tissues, the expression of KLF4 mRNA is 0.71+0.18 in proliferative endometrial tissues, while it is 0.74 + 0.19 in secretory endometrial tissues, the difference is not obviously (P>0.05) .Conclusion Expression of KLF4 mRNA in endometrial carcinoma is down-regulated which cause the cancer cells to become hyperproliferative, and oppositely related to the pathologic grade and the clinical stage. These results suggest that KLF4 might be involved in the carcinogenesis process and progression of endometrial carcinoma.Liu Hong (Obstetrics and Gynecology) Directed by - Cui Zhumei...