[Immunohistochemical expression of integrin alphav, beta5 and beta3 in ovarian epithelial carcinoma: correlation with drug resistance of chemotherapy]

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the possible correlation between the expression of integrin alphav, beta5 and beta3 in tumor tissues and the response to chemotherapy and survival of patients with ovarian epithelial carcinoma.

Methods: Seventy-seven patients with ovarian epithelial carcinoma from January 1996 to December 2002 were entered into the study. All subjects were matched up with the inclusion criteria and followed up till December 2003. Each patient received cytoreductive surgery and systematic chemotherapy. Patients were divided into drug resistant group (n = 26) and drug sensitive group (n = 51). The antigens of integrin alphav, beta5 and beta3 in ovarian tumour tissues were tested by immunohistochemistry. Logistic regression was employed to analyze the correlation between drug resistance and factors including patients' age, clinical stage, pathological degree and type of tumors, chemotherapy methods, operative results and the expression of integrin alphav, beta5 and beta3 in tumors. The disease prognosis was analyzed by multivariate COX regression.

Results: In the drug resistance group, the expressions of integrin alphav and beta5 were significantly higher than that in the drug sensitive group (P = 0.004 and 0.001). The expression of integrin beta3 was not statistically different in the two groups (P = 0.668). According to multivariate analysis, the expression of integrin alphav and beta5 and clinical stage were three independent factors correlated with drug resistance and disease prognosis for the patients with ovarian epithelial carcinoma (P = 0.014, 0.030, 0.042 for drug resistance; and P = 0.045, 0.031, 0.001 for prognosis respectively).

Conclusion: The high expressions of integrin alphav and beta5 in ovarian epithelial carcinoma are risk factors for drug resistance and poor disease prognosis.