Korean J Gynecol Oncol.  2006 Jun;17(2):142-146.

Overexpression of hTERT and c-erbB-2 are correlated in ovarian epithelial cancer

• Kang S
• Park NH
• Lee YK
• Kim JW
• Song YS
• Kang SB
• Lee HP

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
It is still unclear how the abnormal hTERT expression is involved in the process of ovarian carcinogenesis. A recent report demonstrated that the introduction of c-erbB-2 could efficiently induce tumorigenicity of cells with the transfection of SV40 large T antigen and hTERT. It is designed to find correlation between overexpression of hTERT and c-erbB-2 in ovarian carcinogenesis.
METHODS
Using immunohistochemistry, we tested whether overexpression of hTERT and c-erbB-2 were associated in ovarian cancer. Immunohistochemical staining of hTERT and c-erbB-2 was done in 63 cases of ovarian cancer. Overexpression of hTERT and c-erbB-2 were correlated to clinicopathological variables.
RESULTS
Overexpression of hTERT was found in 7 (11.1%) of cases, whereas overexpression of c-erbB2 was founded in 3 (4.8%) of cases. It was found that overexpression of hTERT and c-erbB-2 were significantly correlated (p=0.03). Neither overexpression of hTERT nor that of c-erbB-2 was associated with any of clinicopathological variables, such as stage, grade, and histology.
CONCLUSION
Although the significant correlation between hTERT and c-erbB-2 was found, the low frequency of overexpression of hTERT and c-erbB-2 suggests that cooperation of hTERT and c-erbB-2 may be minor mechanism of ovarian carcinogenesis.

Keyword

Ovarian cancer; Immunohistochemistry; hTERT peptide; c-erbB-2 protein

MeSH Terms

Antigens, Viral, Tumor
Carcinogenesis
Immunohistochemistry
Ovarian Neoplasms
Receptor, erbB-2
Transfection
Antigens, Viral, Tumor
Receptor, erbB-2