NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin may be an important factor in determining how ovarian cancer progresses, Chinese researchers report in the January 15th issue of Cancer.
Dr. Xin-Yuan Guan of the University of Hong Kong and colleagues note that clusterin is involved in a number of normal biological processes. However, increased expression has been detected in prostate, breast and other cancers.
To determine what the situation might be in ovarian carcinoma, the researchers examined clusterin expression in 10 normal ovaries, 20 ovarian cystadenomas, 15 borderline ovarian tumors and a total of 240 metastatic and nonmetastatic ovarian carcinomas.
Clusterin was evident mainly in cytoplasm. Cytoplasmic overexpression was not seen in the normal ovaries. However, overexpression was seen in 17% of cystadenomas, 38% of borderline tumors and 58% of invasive carcinomas.
Moreover, there was a significant association between overexpression and late clinical stage, and overexpression was seen more often in metastatic lesions than in matched primary tumors. In addition, there was evidence that cytoplasmic clusterin had an antiapoptotic function.
Thus the researchers conclude that such overexpression “may be one of the important factors in determining the aggressive nature of a given ovarian carcinoma.”
Source: Cancer 2005;103:277-283. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Apolipoproteins: Apoproteins: Biological Sciences: Biology: Gene Expression Regulation: Genetics: Genetics, Biochemical: Molecular Biology: Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic: Biological SciencesCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
