Abstract:

Background and purpose: The protein tyrosine kinase-7 (PTK7) gene may be related to the occurrence and progression of many tumors. This study was aimed to explore the expression of PTK7 in ovarian serous tumors and its relationship with clinical stage, histological grade, metastasis and prognosis indicators linkages, and analyze the diagnostic and prognostic value of PTK7 in ovarian serous tumors. Methods: Expressions of PTK7 in 3 ovarian cell lines (HO8910, SKOV3, A2780), 14 cases of normal fallopian tube epithelium, 6 cases of benign serous ovarian tumors, 51 cases of borderline serous ovarian tumors and in 97 cases of ovarian serous carcinoma were detected by immunohistochemical EliVision two-step method. Statistical analysis of the relationship between the expression of PTK7 and the pathological indicators was performed by χ² test, Fisher exact test and Kaplan-Meier method. Results: PTK7 was negatively expressed in HO8910 and A2780, but weakly positively expressed in SKOV3. The positive rates of PTK7 in normal fallopian tube epithelium, benign serous ovarian tumors, borderline serous ovarian tumors and serous ovarian cancer were 92.86% (13/14), 83.33% (5/6), 45.10% (23/51), and 28.87% (28/97), respectively. The expression of PTK7 had no difference between normal fallopian tube epithelium and benign serous tumors, benign serous tumors and serous borderline tumors (P=0.521, P=0.102). The PTK7 expression showed significant differences in serous ovarian carcinoma compared with those in normal epithelium, benign serous tumors and borderline serous tumors (P=0.000, P=0.012, P=0.048). Expression of PTK7 in borderline serous ovarian tumors was significantly with clinical stage, metastasis (lymph node and/or peritoneum metastasis) (P=0.038, P=0.038), rather than its location, age (P=0.088, P=0.896). Expression of PTK7 in ovarian serous carcinoma had a significant relation with its clinical stage, WHO grade, MDACC grade (P=0.011, P=0.004, P=0.000), rather than its location, metastasis, tumor diameter and age (P=0.326, P=0.524, P=0.588, P=0.584). The survival rate of PTK7 positive group in ovarian serous carcinoma was significantly higher than that in the negative control group (P=0.017). Conclusion: The expressions of PTK7 in normal ovarian epithelium, benign serous ovarian tumors, borderline serous ovarian tumors and epithelial serous carcinoma show a gradual downward trend. The expression of PTK7 in ovarian serous tumors has a positive correlation with late clinical stage, high histological grade and poor prognosis. PTK7 can be a new indicator of clinical diagnosis and prognosis in ovarian serous tumors.

Key words: PTK7 gene, Ovarian serous carcinoma, Benign serous ovarian tumors, Borderline serous ovarian Tumors