Prognostic Outcome of Mesenchymal Transition Biomarkers in Correlation with EGFR Expression in Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

Background: CD44 is an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) surface receptor that regulates the interactivity between the cells and the extracellular matrix, thereby promoting cell migration. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family is a trans-membrane kinase-related protein. It regulates cell adhesion proteins, which may promote cell proliferation and invasiveness. Mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET) is another EMT receptor that stimulates cell proliferation, invasion, survival, and angiogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of CD44, EGFR expressions, and MET gene amplification in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, including 85 cases of EOC. CD44 and EGFR expressions were evaluated in both epithelial and stromal cells by immunohistochemistry. Tumor cells also underwent a cytogenetic analysis using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to detect MET gene amplification. Results: High CD44 expression in tumors was significantly associated with serous subtypes (P=0.001), peritoneal deposits (P=0.002), and advanced stage (P=0.002). EGFR high tumor expression demonstrated a significant association with lymph node metastasis (P=0.038) and the advanced stage of EOC (P=0.016). Increased copy number of the MET gene was significantly associated with partial therapy response (P=0.030). CD44 and EGFR tumor high expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS). In addition, MET gene gain in tumors was associated with a shorter OS (P=0.000). Conclusion: EMT biomarkers (CD44 and MET) and EGFR expression in EOC are independent prognostic factors for OS. MET gene increase copy number was detected in cases of serous neoplasm and associated with poor survival and minimal therapy response.

Regulation of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition by Cyrtopodion Scabrum: An in vitro Study against Colorectal Cancer Cells

“…Metastasis, defined as the ability to disseminate to distant organs, is the cause of 90% of all cancer-related deaths (Riggi et al, 2018). It has been proposed that Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) might be closely related to the acquisition of invasive traits by tumor cells, thereby triggering the dissemination of carcinoma cells and subsequent metastasis (Kamal et al, 2022;Tsai and Yang, 2013). EMT is a process during which the epithelial cells lose their epithelial features such as cellcell adhesion and phenotypic characteristics and instead acquire mesenchymal traits such as increased mobility (Acharya et al, 2022).…”