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. 2015 Jan;32(1):391.
doi: 10.1007/s12032-014-0391-z. Epub 2014 Nov 30.

Expressions of fatty acid synthase and HER2 are correlated with poor prognosis of ovarian cancer

Yunlang Cai  1 , Jingmei Wang, Lin Zhang, Di Wu, Dandan Yu, Xiaoqiang Tian, Jun Liu, Xinru Jiang, Yang Shen, Lihua Zhang, Mulan Ren, Peilin Huang
Affiliations

Expressions of fatty acid synthase and HER2 are correlated with poor prognosis of ovarian cancer

Yunlang Cai et al. Med Oncol. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the cross talk between fatty acid synthase (FASN) and HER2 (ErbB2) in ovarian cancer. A total of 60 ovarian cancer patients and 15 normal ovarian tissues were enrolled. Tissue array was conducted by using a tissue microarray instrument. Immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify the expressions of HER2 and FASN. The FASN was detected to be distributed in the cell cytoplasm and was significantly correlated with cancer grade (p = 0.000) and FIGO staging (p = 0.000). Patients with FASN overexpression in ovarian cancer tend to have a worse overall survival rate (p = 0.000). HER2 was also stained to be distributed in the cell cytoplasm associated with higher expression in high-grade cancer. It was also disclosed that FASN expression level is not correlated with HER2 status in ovarian cancer. These results for the first time indicated that a cross talk in FASN and HER2 expressions might be associated with prognosis in malignant ovarian cancer.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Immunostaining showing regional diversity of FASN and HER2 expressions in ovarian tissues and ovarian cancers. Immunostaining showing regional diversity of FASN/HER2 expression in ovarian tissues (a/d). The expression levels were graded in a 4-point scale. 0 (undetectable), + (weakly positive), ++ (moderately positive), and +++ (intensely positive); Low (0 and +) and high (++ and +++) expressions of FASN in tissue samples (b, c). Low (0 and +) and high (++ and +++) expressions of HER2 in tissue samples (e, f)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Overall survival based on the expression of FASN. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showing that high expression of FASN (++ and +++) was associated with a shorter overall survival in comparison with low FASN expression (0 and +) in ovarian cancer (p = 0.000, log-rank test)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Overall survival based on the expression of HER2. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showing that high expression of HER2 (++ and +++) was not associated with overall survival in comparison with low HER2 expression (0 and +) in ovarian cancer (p = 0.272, log-rank test)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Overall survival based on the expression of FASN and HER2. To confirm the finding that FASN and HER2 expressions were correlated in ovarian cancer, patients were divided into high expression of FASH (high)/HER2 (high) and FASN (high)/HER2 (low) group. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showing that FASH (high)/HER2 (high) group was associated with a shorter overall survival in comparison with low FASN (high)/HER2 (low) group in ovarian cancer (p = 0.002, log-rank test)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Correlation of expression FASN and HER2 in ovarian cancer. To investigate the expression correlation of FASN and HER2 in ovarian cancer, Spearman correlation analysis showed that FASN and HER2 expressions have no correlation in ovarian cancer (p = 0.385, CC: 0.09)
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