Abstract
Background: Bcl-2 expression appears to be under hormonal control in normal endometrium and to correlate with hormone receptor status in endometrial cancer. The aim of this study was to assess bcl-2 expression in endometrial cancer. Materials and Methods: Hysterectomy specimens from 125 patients with endometrial cancer were stained for bcl-2. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) levels were quantified with a dextran-coated charcoal assay. Results: Bcl-2 expression correlated significantly with endometrioid histology and high levels of ER and PR (p<0.05). For the entire population, bcl-2 expression was not significantly associated with the presence of extrauterine disease. However, when only patients with grade 1 or 2 endometrioid histology were considered, tumors with bcl-2 expression were significantly (p<0.05) more likely to present with extrauterine disease than those not expressing bcl-2. Conclusion: Bcl-2-mediated inhibition of apoptosis may be important in the acquisition of molecular alterations and development of metastases in a subset of hormone-dependent endometrial cancers.
- Bcl-2
- endometrioid corpus cancer
- carcinogenesis
- estrogen receptors
- histological subtype
- progesterone receptors
Footnotes
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↵* Presented at the 6th International Symposium on Predictive Oncology and Intervention Strategies, Pasteur Institute, Paris, February 9-12, 2002.
- Received January 20, 2006.
- Accepted January 31, 2006.
- Copyright© 2006 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved