CD157: A New Prognostic and/or Predictive Marker in Ovarian Cancer? A Retrospective Study

INTRODUCTION: CD157 was found expressed in most Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC) and its high expression proved to be an independent prognostic factor of rapid tumor recurrence and poor prognosis.The aim of the study was to compare CD157 expression in primary tumors (P) and synchronous metastatic lesions (D) from advanced ovarian carcinoma, and to assess whether this parameter has a predictive or prognostic relevance. METHODS: 45 cases of EOC with D collected between 2001 and 2007 at the Sant'Anna Hospital (Torino, Italy) were included and subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. The expression of CD157 was quantified by histological score (H-score). RESULTS: CD157 was expressed in 34(75.56%)P and 35(77.78%)D. The H-score was higher in lymph node metastasis (p<0.005 ANOVA) than in other intra-pelvic sites.The H-score was compared in P and the corresponding D:in 24 cases(53.3%) the expression of CD157 was higher in D than in P (PCONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrate that the difference in the expression of CD157 was positively associated with tumor stage and overall survival. The increase in the expression of CD157 in D compared to P was shown to be an independent factor of poor prognosis. CD157 may indicate a highly aggressive tumor requiring specific treatment.Moreover, it may help to classify ovarian cancers into molecular subtypes with different outcome.