RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Aldehyde Dehydrogenase-1 Predicts Favorable Prognosis in Patients with Vulvar Squamous Cell Carcinoma
JF Anticancer Research
JO Anticancer Res
FD International Institute of Anticancer Research
SP 859
OP 865
VO 34
IS 2
A1 QINGHUA WU
A1 HUIRONG SHI
A1 RUTH HOLM
A1 XIAORAN LI
A1 CLAES TROPE
A1 JAHN M. NESLAND
A1 ZHENHE SUO
YR 2014
UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/34/2/859.abstract
AB Backgrounds: Aldehyde dehydrogenase-1 (ALDH1) has been considered as a potential cancer stem cell marker in different types of cancer. In the present study, we investigated the expression of ALDH1 in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, and evaluated its correlation with clinicopathological factors in patients suffering from this disease. Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty-four patients with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, together with their verified histopathological and complete clinical data in Norway were included in the study. All paraffin-embedded samples of the primary vulvar carcinoma were recruited. The presence of ALDH1 was detected by immunohistochemistry and compared against commonly recognized prognostic factors. Results: By immunohistochemical staining, the expression of ALDH1 was observed in 10/154 (6.5%) vulvar squamous cell carcinomas, while being extensively expressed in the suprabasal cells in normal vulvar epithelia from patients with benign gynecological disease and non-malignant epithelia adjacent to the tumor cells. In addition, ALDH1 was highly expressed in stromal fibroblasts, blood vessels and keratinized pearl of the carcinoma in all the samples. Patients with ALDH1-positive tumors had a significantly longer disease-specific survival (p=0.042). Conclusion: Contrary to the characteristics of cancer stem cells shown in other types of cancer with positive expression of ALDH1, the positive expression of ALDH1 in patients with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma indicates a significantly better prognosis. Furthermore, there is a trend that the expression of ALDH1 is associated with better histological differentiation.