Increased cyclin D1 expression is associated with features of malignancy and disease recurrence in ovarian tumors

Alterations in the expression of cyclin D1 have been reported frequently in several human cancers, but their significance in the multistep model of ca rcinogenesis has been scantly described. To define the pattern of cyclin D1 expression in the development of ovarian cancer and clinical outcome, 55 c ases of benign ovarian tumors, 12 borderline cases, and 37 ovarian carcinom as (32 primary and 5 recurrent carcinomas) were studied, Analyses were carr ied out on fresh tumor specimens by Western blotting and reverse transcript ion-PCR and provided significant superimposable results (P = 0.00001), Cycl in D1 abundance was classed according to the densitometric values as undete ctable, detectable, H ell detectable, and highly detectable. A significant increase (P < 0.000001) in median cyclin D1 values was observed from benign (0.038; range, 0.001-0.705) to borderline (0.226; range, 0.001-0.623) to m alignant (0.347; range, 0.027-2.330) to recurrent (0.887; range, 0.309-2.22 60) tumors, In addition, higher median cyclin D1 values were reported in se rous carcinomas (P = 0.055) and advanced-stage diseases (P = 0.003), Surviv al analyses carried out in the 32 primary carcinomas showed no significant difference in overall survival between detectable versus well/highly detect able cyclin D1 neoplasms, Conversely, a significant relationship between cy clin D1 expression and progression-free survival was found (P = 0.031), The se results may elucidate the function of altered cyclin D1 expression in ov arian tumorigenesis and provide a basis for additional studies on its progn ostic role.