Downregulation of KAI1 metastasis suppressor protein is associated with a dismal prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer

Objectives. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of downregu lation of KAI1 metastasis suppressor protein in epithelial ovarian cancer. In addition, correlation of KAI1 and p53 immunostaining was investigated. Methods. Expression of KAI1 and p53 was immunohistochemically determined in 107 specimens of epithelial ovarian cancer stages I-IV. Survival of patien ts was investigated using uni- and multivariate analysis. Results. Strong KAI1 expression was observed in 17.8% of cases, moderate in 27.1%, weak in 21.5%, and complete loss of KAI1 expression in 33.6%. Overe xpression of p53 protein was observed in 45.8%. There was correlation of KA I1 expression neither with p53 expression nor with various clinical and his topathological parameters. Serous ovarian cancers showed significantly decr eased staining intensity of KAI when compared to other histological types ( P = 0.007). Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that patients wit h strong or moderate expression of KAI1 had a significantly, longer overall (P = 0.0013) and disease-free survival (P = 0.0048) when compared to those with low or absent expression. Conclusion. KAI1 downregulation is an independent prognostic factor in epit helial ovarian cancer, indicating dismal prognosis. Our study did not revea l a correlation between p53 status and KAI1 expression, suggesting that p53 -independent mechanisms might be involved in the downregulation of KAIL (C) 2001 Academic Press.