MingJuan Xu

Correlation between plasma PSGL‐1 and FIGO stage, tumor metastasis, and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer

AbstractPlasma circulating P‐selectin glycoprotein ligand‐1 (PSGL‐1) levels and its clinical correlation in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are unknown. The study determined plasma PSGL‐1 levels in EOC patients and investigated its relationship with clinicopathological factors and prognosis. Plasma PSGL‐1 levels were measured using ELISA in 69 patients with EOC, 34 patients with benign ovarian cystadenoma, and 36 healthy controls. Subsequently, the relationship between PSGL‐1 levels and clinicopathological characteristics of patients, as well as the prognosis of EOC patients, was examined. Additionally, the specificity and sensitivity of plasma PSGL‐1 were assessed through ROC curve analysis. Plasma PSGL‐1 was upregulated in EOC patients compared with healthy subjects and/or patients with benign ovarian cystadenoma (p < 0.01). Elevated levels of PSGL‐1 in the plasma were positively associated with advanced FIGO stage (p < 0.001), tumor size (p = 0.001), tumor metastasis (p = 0.036), and tumor recurrence (p = 0.013), while was negatively correlated with residual tumor size (p < 0.001). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that high plasma PSGL‐1 levels were associated with progression‐free survival (p = 0.0345). In univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, PSGL‐1 (HR = 1.456, p = 0.009) was an independent prognostic marker. Plasma PSGL‐1 levels distinguished EOC patients and healthy individuals (AUC = 0.905), patients at late and early FIGO stages (AUC = 0.886), and metastatic and non‐metastatic EOC (AUC = 0.722). The expression of plasma PSGL‐1 is significantly increased in patients with EOC, serving as a reliable biomarker to differentiate between healthy individuals and those with EOC. Furthermore, PSGL‐1 in patients is correlated with prognostic indicators, such as advanced FIGO stage, tumor lymph node metastasis, and progression‐free survival.

DGAT1 Expression Promotes Ovarian Cancer Progression and Is Associated with Poor Prognosis

Background. Ovarian cancer is the most fatal gynecological malignancy. Owing to its insidious onset, rapid development, and poor prognosis, ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of death in women. Although immunotherapy-related drugs, such as Olaparib, can alleviate ovarian cancer progression, there are no remarkable breakthroughs for its effective treatment. It is considered that the transformation of normal cells to cancerous ones involves “recoding” of certain metabolic pathways. Diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) can synthesize triglycerides by transferring acyl-CoA to diacylglycerol, which plays a key role in lipid synthesis. However, the role of DGAT1 in ovarian cancer is not yet elucidated. Materials and Methods. We analyzed the correlation between DGAT1 and ovarian cancer staging, grading, vascular invasion, and prognosis by collating the information of ovarian cancer specimens from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Furthermore, the effects of DGAT1 expression on proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumor growth were studied using ovarian cancer cell lines. GSEA was used to analyze the KEGG pathways and biological function enriched because of DGAT1 expression in ovarian cancer. Results. The expression of DGAT1 was elevated in advanced ( p = 0.0432 ), poorly differentiated ( p = 0.0148 ), and vascular invaded ( p = 0.0002 ) ovarian cancer specimens. Prognosis among patients with high expression of DGAT1 was poor. After DGAT1 expression was interfered, proliferation, migration, invasion, colony forming, and tumor growth of ovarian cancer cells were inhibited. In addition, GSEA showed that DGAT1 may be involved in the immune process. Conclusion. DGAT1 expression is associated with the clinical phenotype of ovarian cancer. We suggest that DGAT1 has potential implications in the treatment of ovarian cancer.