Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Although the expression of both maspin and GLUT-1 have been shown to increase in many human cancers such as endometrioid carcinoma, their long-term prognostic relevance has not yet been established. The aim of our study is to investigate the overexpression of maspin and GLUT-1 in malignant endometrial tissues, to evaluate its role in the neoplastic progression to an endometrioid carcinoma, to establish prognostic clinical parameters and to predict survival.

METHODS

The sample participants comprised of 68 patients with endometrioid adenocarcinoma and 68 patients with benign endometrial tissues. The immunostaining pattern for maspin was accepted as nuclear. Nuclear staining of tumoral tissues and normal endometrial tissues were scored according to cell ratios as follows: negative staining <25%; positive staining 25% - 100%. The linear staining pattern for GLUT-1 was accepted as membranous. The percentage of positively stained tumor cells in the tissue samples were semi-quantitatively determined with negative staining <5% and positive staining 5% - 100%. The follow-up period ranged from 6 to 60 months with a mean of 53,8 months. Primary end points were determined as all-cause mortality.

RESULTS

The immunohistochemical expression of GLUT-1 and Maspin were significantly higher in endometrioid carcinoma (p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between survival and GLUT-1. Although the survival in patients with maspin staining was lower, statistical significance was not reached (p=0.08). In patients with positive maspin staining, the prognosis is much worse. While GLUT-1 plays an important role in the progression and metastasis of tumors, its activity was not observed in tissues with overexpressed maspin.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

While GLUT-1 is an important immunostaining marker for tumor progression and metastasis, maspin has been identified to be more effective as a prognostic parameter in endometrioid carcinoma.