Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2019 Mar 18;12(1):23.
doi: 10.1186/s13048-019-0501-9.

Expression of zinc finger transcription factors (ZNF143 and ZNF281) in serous borderline ovarian tumors and low-grade ovarian cancers

Paweł Sadłecki  1 , Marek Grabiec  2 , Dariusz Grzanka  3 , Jakub Jóźwicki  3 , Paulina Antosik  3 , Małgorzata Walentowicz-Sadłecka  2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Expression of zinc finger transcription factors (ZNF143 and ZNF281) in serous borderline ovarian tumors and low-grade ovarian cancers

Paweł Sadłecki et al. J Ovarian Res. .

Abstract

Low-grade ovarian cancers represent up to 8% of all epithelial ovarian carcinomas (EOCs). Recent studies demonstrated that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial for the progression of EOCs. EMT plays a key role in cancer invasion, metastasis formation and chemotherapy resistance. An array of novel EMT transcription factors from the zinc finger protein family have been described recently, among them zinc finger protein 143 (ZNF143) and zinc finger protein 281 (ZNF281). The study included tissue specimens from 42 patients. Based on histopathological examination of surgical specimens, eight lesions were classified as serous borderline ovarian tumors (sBOTs) and 34 as low-grade EOCs. The proportions of the ovarian tumors that tested positively for ZNF143 and ZNF281 were 90 and 57%, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found in the expressions of ZNF143 and ZNF281 transcription factors in SBOTs and low-grade EOCs. Considering the expression patterns for ZNF143 and ZNF281 identified in this study, both sBOTs and low-grade EOCs might undergo a dynamic epithelial-mesenchymal interconversion. The lack of statistically significant differences in the expressions of the zinc finger proteins in sBOTs and low-grade serous EOCs might constitute an evidence for common origin of these two tumor types.

Keywords: Borderline ovarian tumor; Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; Low-grade ovarian cancer; Ovarian cancer; Transcription factors; ZNF143; ZNF281.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study conformed with the rules of Good Clinical Practice and its protocol was approved by the Local Bioethics Committee at Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, and written informed consent was sought from each patient or her next of kin.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Microphotograph presenting strong nuclear expression of ZNF143 in clear-cell ovarian carcinoma (a) and borderline tumor (b), weak nuclear expression in endometrioid ovarian cancer (c) and borderline tumor (d), and positive expression in ovarian stroma and epithelium of normal phenotype (e). Magnification × 10
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Microphotograph presenting cytoplasmic expression of ZNF281 in endometrioid ovarian cancer (a) and borderline tumor (b), negative staining in clear-cell ovarian cancer (c) and borderline tumor (d), and weak expression in ovarian stroma and epithelium of normal phenotype (e). Magnification × 10
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A Global Cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin, in press. The online GLOBOCAN 2018 database is accessible at http://gco.iarc.fr/, as part of IARC’s Global Cancer Observatory. - PubMed
    1. Shih IM, Kurman RJ. Ovarian tumorigenesis: A proposed model based on morphological and molecular genetic analysis. Am J Pathol. 2004;164:1511–1518. doi: 10.1016/S0002-9440(10)63708-X. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fischerova D, Zikan M, Dundr P, Cibula D. Diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of borderline ovarian tumors. Oncologist. 2012;17(12):1515–1533. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2012-0139. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kurman RJ, Shih IM. The dualistic model of ovarian carcinogenesis: revisited, revised, and expanded. Am J Pathol. 2016;186:733–747. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2015.11.011. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Morgan RJ, Jr, Alvarez RD, Armstrong DK, et al. Ovarian cancer, version 2.2013. J Natl Compr Cancer Netw. 2013;11(10):1199–1209. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2013.0142. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types