Overexpression of Aurora B is associated with poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer patients

Virchows Arch. 2009 Nov;455(5):431-40. doi: 10.1007/s00428-009-0838-3. Epub 2009 Oct 17.

Abstract

Recent studies have indicated that Aurora B expression is related to cell proliferation and prognosis in many cancers, but its association with epithelial ovarian carcinoma is not fully understood. Therefore, we examined the Aurora B kinase expression in epithelial ovarian cancer patients. Using immunohistochemistry, the expression levels of Aurora B and phosphohistone H3 (Ser(10)) (mitosis-specific marker) were measured in 156 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. The expression levels of Aurora B at the protein and messenger RNA levels were examined using Western blotting and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. In total, 53 tumorous ovarian samples (34.0%) showed Aurora B overexpression, which was significantly higher than that found in the 15 normal ovarian tissue samples (0%, p = 0.006). The overexpression of Aurora B was also significantly higher in cases showing phosphohistone H3 (Ser(10)) overexpression (44.3% vs. 27.4%, p = 0.03). In addition, the expression of Aurora B in poorly and moderately differentiated carcinomas of the ovary was significantly higher than in well-differentiated carcinomas (53.6% vs. 28.2% vs.10.0%, respectively, p = 0.02). The overexpression of Aurora B was significantly higher in cases with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.01) and a positive ascites cytology (p = 0.008). Overall, the Aurora B overexpression group demonstrated a significantly shorter progression-free survival (p = 0.001) and overall survival (p = 0.023) than the Aurora B low expression group using univariate analysis (log-rank statistic). Aurora B is an effective predictor of aggressive epithelial ovarian carcinoma in terms of differentiation, metastasis, and prognosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Aurora Kinase B
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / analysis*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Female
  • Histones / biosynthesis
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / enzymology*
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / mortality
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / pathology
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / enzymology*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / mortality
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology
  • Prognosis
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / biosynthesis*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Histones
  • AURKB protein, human
  • Aurora Kinase B
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases