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Expression and prognostic significance of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor in epithelial ovarian cancer

Berntsson, Jonna LU ; Lundgren, Sebastian LU ; Nodin, Björn LU ; Uhlen, Mathias ; Gaber, Alexander LU and Jirström, Karin LU orcid (2014) In Journal of Ovarian Research 7.
Abstract
Background: High expression of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR) has previously been associated with a favourable prognosis in a few cancer forms, but its expression and relationship with clinical outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has not yet been reported. The aim of this study was therefore to examine the clinicopathological correlates and prognostic significance of PIGR expression in EOC. Methods: After an initial screening in the Human Protein Atlas portal, a validated antibody was selected for extended analysis of immunohistochemical PIGR expression in tissue microarrays with tumours from 154 incident cases of EOC from two pooled prospective population-based cohorts. Subsets of corresponding benign-appearing... (More)
Background: High expression of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR) has previously been associated with a favourable prognosis in a few cancer forms, but its expression and relationship with clinical outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has not yet been reported. The aim of this study was therefore to examine the clinicopathological correlates and prognostic significance of PIGR expression in EOC. Methods: After an initial screening in the Human Protein Atlas portal, a validated antibody was selected for extended analysis of immunohistochemical PIGR expression in tissue microarrays with tumours from 154 incident cases of EOC from two pooled prospective population-based cohorts. Subsets of corresponding benign-appearing fallopian tubes (n = 38) and omental metastases (n = 33) were also analysed. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression analysis were applied to examine the impact of PIGR expression on overall survival (OS) and ovarian cancer-specific survival (OCSS). Results: PIGR expression was significantly higher in fallopian tubes compared to primary tumours and metastases (p < 0.001) and lower in carcinoma of the serous subtype compared to other carcinomas (p < 0.001). PIGR expression was significantly associated with lower grade (p = 0.001), mucinous histological subtype (p = 0.002), positive progesterone receptor expression (p = 0.009) and negative or low Ki-67 expression (p = 0.003). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a significantly improved OS (p = 0.013) and OCSS (p = 0.009) for patients with tumours displaying high expression of PIGR. These associations were confirmed in unadjusted Cox regression analysis (HR = 0.48; 95% CI 0.26-0.87; p = 0.015 for OS and HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.22-0.82; p = 0.011 for OCSS) but did not remain significant after adjustment for age, grade and clinical stage. Conclusions: This study provides a first demonstration of PIGR expression in human fallopian tubes, primary EOC tumours and metastases. High tumour-specific expression of PIGR was found to be associated with a favourable prognosis in unadjusted, but not in adjusted, analysis. These findings are novel and merit further investigation. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Polymeric immunoglobulin receptor, Fallopian tubes, Ovarian cancer, Prognosis
in
Journal of Ovarian Research
volume
7
article number
26
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • wos:000333112700001
  • scopus:84896718105
  • pmid:24568264
ISSN
1757-2215
DOI
10.1186/1757-2215-7-26
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Pathology, (Lund) (013030000)
id
b0892308-7b32-483f-bad5-d9bf8a79d4f5 (old id 4411147)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:10:02
date last changed
2024-01-29 02:53:37
@article{b0892308-7b32-483f-bad5-d9bf8a79d4f5,
  abstract     = {{Background: High expression of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR) has previously been associated with a favourable prognosis in a few cancer forms, but its expression and relationship with clinical outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has not yet been reported. The aim of this study was therefore to examine the clinicopathological correlates and prognostic significance of PIGR expression in EOC. Methods: After an initial screening in the Human Protein Atlas portal, a validated antibody was selected for extended analysis of immunohistochemical PIGR expression in tissue microarrays with tumours from 154 incident cases of EOC from two pooled prospective population-based cohorts. Subsets of corresponding benign-appearing fallopian tubes (n = 38) and omental metastases (n = 33) were also analysed. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression analysis were applied to examine the impact of PIGR expression on overall survival (OS) and ovarian cancer-specific survival (OCSS). Results: PIGR expression was significantly higher in fallopian tubes compared to primary tumours and metastases (p &lt; 0.001) and lower in carcinoma of the serous subtype compared to other carcinomas (p &lt; 0.001). PIGR expression was significantly associated with lower grade (p = 0.001), mucinous histological subtype (p = 0.002), positive progesterone receptor expression (p = 0.009) and negative or low Ki-67 expression (p = 0.003). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a significantly improved OS (p = 0.013) and OCSS (p = 0.009) for patients with tumours displaying high expression of PIGR. These associations were confirmed in unadjusted Cox regression analysis (HR = 0.48; 95% CI 0.26-0.87; p = 0.015 for OS and HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.22-0.82; p = 0.011 for OCSS) but did not remain significant after adjustment for age, grade and clinical stage. Conclusions: This study provides a first demonstration of PIGR expression in human fallopian tubes, primary EOC tumours and metastases. High tumour-specific expression of PIGR was found to be associated with a favourable prognosis in unadjusted, but not in adjusted, analysis. These findings are novel and merit further investigation.}},
  author       = {{Berntsson, Jonna and Lundgren, Sebastian and Nodin, Björn and Uhlen, Mathias and Gaber, Alexander and Jirström, Karin}},
  issn         = {{1757-2215}},
  keywords     = {{Polymeric immunoglobulin receptor; Fallopian tubes; Ovarian cancer; Prognosis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Journal of Ovarian Research}},
  title        = {{Expression and prognostic significance of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor in epithelial ovarian cancer}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3821715/4777573}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/1757-2215-7-26}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}