Publication

Evaluation of Vav3.1 as prognostic marker in endometrial cancer

Journal Paper/Review - Aug 6, 2018

Units
PubMed
Doi

Citation
Bösch M, Reimer D, Wolf D, Hatina J, Rössler J, Wiedemair A, Fiegl H, Marth C, Sopper S, Zeimet A. Evaluation of Vav3.1 as prognostic marker in endometrial cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2018; 144:2067-2076.
Type
Journal Paper/Review (English)
Journal
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2018; 144
Publication Date
Aug 6, 2018
Issn Electronic
1432-1335
Pages
2067-2076
Brief description/objective

PURPOSE
Vav3 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that regulates the activity of Rho/Rac family GTPases. In a study on ovarian cancer, we recently demonstrated pronounced prognostic and predictive value of Vav3.1, a specific truncation variant of the parental Vav3 gene. Here, we sought to investigate the role of Vav3.1 in the most prevalent gynecological tumor entity, endometrial cancer.

METHODS
Vav3.1 transcript levels were determined in a large cohort of endometrial cancer patients using variant-specific PCR (n = 239), and non-malignant endometrial tissue served as control (n = 26). Expression levels of Vav3.1 were stratified according to established clinicopathological characteristics and correlated to long-term patient survival (average follow-up of > 7.5 years). Type 1 and type 2 cancers were separately investigated.

RESULTS
While Vav3.1 was markedly overexpressed in endometrial cancer tissue, we could not detect associations with clinical parameters related to prognosis, such as FIGO stage and tumor grade. Kaplan-Meier estimators of different measures of survival failed to show prognostic significance of Vav3.1 in endometrial cancer. Lack of prognostic value was observed for both type 1 and type 2 cancers.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that Vav3.1 is not suited as a marker of cancer progression and/or treatment response in endometrial cancer. Feasibility and potential benefit of targeting Vav3.1 in endometrial cancer needs to be evaluated in future studies, proceeding from its clear, roughly ten-fold, induction in the malignant endometrium.