Expression of CD44 variant 6 and its prognostic value in benign and malignant endometrial tissue.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: CD44 expression in both the early and metastatic phases of many epithelial and non-epithelial cancers is strongly prognostic. The objective of the study is to evaluate whether there is any relationship between the expression of CDD44v6 and endometrial cancer (EC) staging and prognosis. METHODS: This retrospective study included 60 EC patients for whom surgical staging was performed between 2000 and 2006. Twenty-eight randomly selected patients with normal endometria served as the control group. We immunohistochemically evaluated membranous and cytoplasmic CD44v6 staining in tissue paraffin blocks. The results were graded as positive or negative. RESULTS: Membranous staining in both advanced and early stage EC patients was significantly higher than that in the control group (p = 0.002). The extent of either membranous or cytoplasmic staining in both advanced- and early stage patients did not differ significantly by age, tumor grade, stage, extent of myometrial invasion, lymph node involvement, cytology, adnexal involvement, or omental spreading. In advanced-stage patients, neither papillary serous not clear cell cancers exhibited cytoplasmic staining. CONCLUSIONS: CD44v6 membranous staining can be useful for differentiating malignant from benign endometrial tissue. However, staining is not associated with EC staging or prognosis.