Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2023, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (4): 273-278.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2023.04.005

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Expression and clinical significance of FoxM1 in epithelial ovarian cancers

QIN Xiyuan, ZHU Ying, LI Weitao, ZHENG Xiaoling, LIANG Yuanqiu   

  1. Department of Pathology, The Tenth Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University/Dongguan People's Hospital, Dongguan 523058, Guangdong, China
  • Received:2023-03-16 Revised:2023-06-17 Online:2023-07-30 Published:2023-08-04

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To investigate expression of forkhead box protein M1 (FoxM1) in epithelial ovarian cancers and to determine its association with clinicopathological characteristics,and with epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related factors,E-cadherin and vimentin. METHODS: Expressions of FoxM1,E-cadherin and vimentin in 41 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer,17 cases of borderline ovarian tumors and 20 cases of normal ovarian tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. χ2 test was used to compare differences in the expression of FoxM1 between epithelial ovarian cancer tissues,borderline ovarian tumors and normal ovarian tissues. In addition,correlations were investigated among expressions of FoxM1,E-cadherin and vimentin,and clinicopathological characteristics of epithelial ovarian cancer patients. RESULTS: The positive expression rates of FoxM1,E-cadherin and vimentin in ovarian cancer tissues were 95.12%,82.93% and 70.73% respectively,and the high expression rates were 51.22%,53.66% and 46.34% respectively. The positive expression and high expression rates of FoxM1 in ovarian cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in the borderline ovarian cancer tissues and normal ovarian tissues (P<0.05). The expressions of FoxM1,E-cadherin and vimentin in ovarian cancer tissues were related to the clinical stages and lymph node metastasis of patients. The high expression rates of FoxM1 and vimentin in ovarian cancer tissues of patients with clinical stage III-IV and lymph node metastasis were significantly higher than those of patients with stage I-II and with no lymph node metastasis,respectively. The high expression rates of E-cadherin were significantly lower than those of patients with stage I-II and no lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Spearman analysis showed that there were significant and positive correlations between FoxM1 and vimentin expression levels in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues(φ=0.562,P<0.05),but there were significant and negative correlations between them and E-cadherin expression levels (φ=-0.440,-0.366,P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Expression of FoxM1 was significantly up regulated in epithelial ovarian cancers,and was related to clinical stages and lymph node metastasis. FoxM1 may therefore promote the occurrence,progression and metastasis of epithelial ovarian cancer via the EMT process.

Key words: epithelial ovarian cancer, fork head box transcription factor M1, epithelial mesenchymal transformation, E-cadherin, vimentin, pathological characteristics

CLC Number: