Abstract:

Objectives     To investigate expression of β-catenin, E-cadherin and APC in ovarian epithelial tumors, and its implication in oncogenesis, and to investigate the effects of the Wnt signal pathway in ovarian oncogenesis. Methods     Immunohistochemical staining with the SABC procedure was conducted to examine expression of -β-catenin， E-cadherin and APC in 75 specimens: 49 for epithelial ovarian carcinoma， 10 marginal ovarian tumor and 16 benign ovarian tumor. Results     Expression of β-catenin and E-cadherin in ovarian malignant epithelial tumors was higher than in both ovarian borderline epithelial tumors and benign epithelial tumors. In ovarian epithelial tumors, a significantly positive correlation was found between β-catenin and E-cadherin in their expression(P＜0.01). The prevalence of APC positive in benign epithelial tumors was significantly greater than in malignant epithelial tumors(P＜0.05), while there was no positive correlation between malignant epithelial tumors and borderline epithelial tumors(P>0.05). Statistically, there was no relationship between β-catenin and APC in malignant epithelial tumors(P>0.05). Conclusion     β-catenin, E-cadherin and APC protein have important effects on pathogenesis and development of ovarian epithelial tumors. By contrast, the Wnt signal pathway may not contribute to these processes.

Key words: Ovarian neoplasm; catenin; E-cadherin; adenomatous polyposis coli; Wnt signal pathway； immunohistochemistry