CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE OF ALPHA-CATENIN, COLLAGEN-IV, AND KI-67 EXPRESSION IN EPITHELIAL OVARIAN-CANCER

Purpose: To analyze alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression in epithe lial ovarian cancer with special reference to their prognostic signifi cance and correlations with clinical and pathologic characteristics, a s well as cell proliferation marker Ki-67. Patients and Methods: alpha -Catenin, collagen IV, and Ki-67 expression was immunohistochemically analyzed in paraffin-embedded specimens of 316 patients with epithelia l ovarian cancer. Results: alpha-Catenin and collagen IV expression wa s not interrelated or related to International Federation of Gynecolog y and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage or proliferation marker Ki-67. alpha-Cat enin expression was reduced (< 100%) in 50% of primary tumors. Reduced alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression war directly related to high histologic grade (P < .001). In both univariate and multivariate anal yses, Ki-67 proliferation significantly predicted overall survival, In the subset of 86 patients with stage I tumor a reduced (< 100%) alpha -catenin expression approached statistical significance as a negative prognostic factor (P = .035) and retained its statistical significance in the multivariate analysis (P = .025). The low (< 30%) expression o f alpha-catenin (n = 10) was a sign of inferior survival as compared w ith normal expression in both the univariate (P = .0107) and multivari ate analyses (P = .0105). Conclusion: alpha-Catenin expression seems t o be a useful marker of those FIGO stage I tumors likely to run a less favorable course. The high cell proliferative activity was associated with poor survival. In the future, alpha-catenin and Ki-67 expression should be studied in a large prospective cohort that includes early-s tage cancers to select the more aggressive tumors for intense early ch emotherapy, J Clin Oncol 16:2591-2600. (C) 1998 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.