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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Expression of selected molecular factors in two types of endometrial cancer

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BACKGROUND Endometrial cancers (EC) are a heterogeneous group of malignant neoplasms differing in etiology, clinical-pathological features and prognosis. OBJECTIVES To determine the differences between the expression of selected molecular factors and find connections between them in order to isolate possible biomarkers influencing treatment options. MATERIAL AND METHODS The investigated data involved archival histological preparations obtained from uterine EC samples taken from 137 patients, treated surgically between 2007 and 2014. The immunohistochemical Dako EnVisionTM Flex+ method was applied. RESULTS The expression of ERβ, MLH1 and BRCA1 was lower in ECI than in ECII patients. The ERα expression was higher in early Federation internationale de gynecologie et d'obstetrique (FIGO) (IA) stages than in advanced (IB-IV) stages, while ERβ expression was significantly higher in advanced stages compared to stage IA and increased with grading. The BRCA1 expression also increased with grading. In both type I and type II EC patients, ERα expression correlated with MYH9 and BRCA1, while ERβ expression correlated with BAP expression. High expression of BRCA1 correlated with several proteins: BAP, MYH9 and FAK. High BAP expression also correlated with high MYH9 expression. A correlation in the expression of these proteins was also demonstrated in the group consisting only of patients with ECI. A significant correlation was found between BAP expression and MYH9 among patients diagnosed with ECI. In the ECII group, no correlation was found between the tested proteins. CONCLUSIONS The ECI and ECII patients differed in the studied molecular factors, mainly in terms of ER and BRCA1 expression. Changes in BRCA1 expression were linked to alterations in BAP expression, but were also associated with the proteins MYH9 and FAK.