| Background and ObjectiveEndometrioid carcinoma, which occurs in the endometrial epithelial, is one of the most common female genital tract system malignant cancers. The most popular style is endometrioid carcinoma In recent years, the prevalence and mortality of endometrial carcinoma tend to rise. In developed countries, such as European countries and America, the incidence of endometrial carcinoma has already been higher than that of cervical cancer. Endometrial carcinoma is a chronic and complex disease, involving multiple genes. Its occurrence is close related with many signal transduction pathways and these pathways interact with each other.Hedgehog and Wnt signaling pathways are necessary for embryonic development. Moreover, they play important roles in tumor occurrence, development, invasion, metastasis, and their mutation and abnormal expression can lead to the incidence of tumors. Recently, the roles of Hedgehog and Wnt signaling pathways in tumors have been studied well. Glil and β-catenin are the core members in these two pathways and maintain in the form of complexes to keep balance generally. However, when ligands combine with the receptors, the pathways will be activated. Then Glil and β-catenin in the cytoplasm gradually increase and transport into the nucleus in the monomeric form to influence the expression and transcription of downstream target genes, which have close relationship with growth, invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. Now research via cell interference or pathway inhibitors indicate that these two pathways interact with each other to regulate the signal transduction process of tumors, but the precise mechanism haven’t been clarified.This study aims to detect the expressions of Glil and β-catenin protein in the normal endometrium, atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrioid carcinoma, and investigate their roles in the onset of endometrial cancer, thus providing new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of endometrial carcinoma.Materials and methods1. IndividualsAll of the tissue samples were collected from the department of pathology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2012 to January 2016. The patients were divided into the following three groups:55 cases of endometrioid carcinoma group,20 cases of atypical endometrial hyperplasia group and 20 cases of normal proliferative phase endometrium group. All of the patients had no radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormones and immunotherapy history before surgery, and didn’t comorbid with other cancers. Tissue specimens were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and were confirmed by pathologists.2. MethodsImmunohistochemistry was used to detect the levels of Glil and β-catenin protein in the above groups.3. Statistical analysisThe data was analyzed by SPSS 17.0 software. Differences among groups were analyzed using χ~2 test and the classification variable correlation analysis. The P values less than 0.05 was thought to be statistically significantResults1. The expression of Glil protein in the above groupsThe positive expressions of Glil protein were mainly located in the nuclear and cytoplasm.The positive expression rate of the endometrioid carcinoma group, atypical endometrial hyperplasia group and normal proliferative phase endometrium group were: 69.09%(38/55),40.00%(8/20),10%(2/20). The normal endometrium group showed low expression. The difference among the three groups was statistically significant (χ~2=66.721, P<0.001). Compared with the normal proliferative phase endometrium group, the level of the endometrioid carcinoma group were increased, and the difference was statistically significant (χ~2=20.576, P>0.001). Moreover, compared with the atypical endometrial hyperplasia group, the level of endometrioid carcinoma group was incresed (χ~2=5.234, P=0.022). The expression level of Glil protein was correlated with the depth of invasion, degree of differentiation and clinical stage while it was not correlated with age and lymph node metastasis (P>0.05).2. The expression of β-catenin protein in the above groupsThe positive expressions of β-catenin protein were mainly located in the cytoplasm and cell membrane. The positive expression rate of the endometrioid carcinoma group, atypical endometrial hyperplasia group and normal proliferative phase endometrium group were:76.36% (42/55),65.00%(13/20),25% (5/20). In the endometrioid carcinoma group the expression of β-catenin protein was positive. The difference among the three groups was statistically significant (χ~2=61.585, P<0.05). Compared with the normal proliferative phase endometrium group, the level of the endometrioid carcinoma group and atypical endometrial hyperplasia group were increased (P=0.011, P<0.001). But there was no significant difference between the endometrioid carcinoma group and atypical hyperplasia group (χ~2=0.968, P=0.325). The expression level of β-catenin protein was correlated with the depth of invasion, degree of differentiation and clinical stage while it was not correlated with age and lymph node metastasis.3. The correlational analysis of Glil and P-catenin protein expression in endometrioid carcinomaThe expression of Glil and β-catenin protein were statistically significant in the endometrioid carcinoma (χ~2=15.245, P=0.002). According to the positive expression rate, the 55 patients were divided into two groups:negative or weakly positive group and positive or strong positive group. Comparative differences between the two groups were statistically significant The expressions of Glil and P-catenin protein were negative correlated (r=-0.314, P=0.019).Conclusions1. Both Glil and β-catenin protein are higher expressed in endometrioid carcinoma, and are closely related to the depth of myometrial invasion, tumor differentiation and clinical stage, suggesting that they may play important roles in the development of endometrioid carcinoma.2. The expressions of Glil and β-catenin protein were negative correlated in the endometrioid carcinoma, and might be synergistically involved in the occurrence of endometrioid carcinoma... |
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