Abstract:

Objective To study the expression of B7-H4 protein in ovarian epithelial tumor tissue and to explore its association with the clinical pathological characteristics of ovarian epithelial tumor  and the relationship between the expressions of CA125 and B7-H4.Methods The immunohistochemistry method was used to detect the expressions of B7-H4 and CA125 in 70 patients with ovarian epithelial carcinoma including 41 cases of ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma,11 cases of ovarian mucous cystadenocarcinoma,9 cases of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma,9 cases of ovarian clear cell carcinoma,30 cases of ovarian benign epithelial tumor and 10 cases of normal ovary tissue.Results ① The positive expression rate of B7-H4 in  ovarian epithelial carcinoma(84.3%) was significantly higher than that in ovarian benign epithelial tumor (23.3%,P<0.01),and the B7-H4 expression was negative in normal ovary tissue.② The positive expression rates of B7-H4 in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma (100.0%),ovarian endometrioid carcinoma (77.8%) and ovarian clear cell carcinoma (88.9%) were significantly higher than that in ovarian mucus cystadenocarcinoma (27.3%,P<0.05).The positive expression rate of B7 - H4 in advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma group (Ⅲ period and Ⅳ period) (92.9%) was statistically higher than that in early epithelial ovarian carcinoma group  (Ⅰ period and Ⅱ period) (71.4%,P<0.05).④ The positive expression rate of B7-H4 in low differentiation (G3) ovarian epithelial carcinoma group (100%) was statistically higher than that in high-medium differentiation (G1 and G2) ovarian epithelial carcinoma group (67.6%,P<0.01).⑤The positive expression rates of CA125 in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma,ovarian mucinous carcinoma,ovarian endometrioid carcinoma,ovarian clear cell carcinoma tissue,excluding ovarian mucous cystadenocarcinoma,were lower than those of B7-H4,and they were positively correlated (r=0.277,P<0.05).Conclusion The positive expression rate of B7-H4 in  ovarian epithelial carcinoma  tissue is related to the pathological type,clinical stage and pathological grade of ovarian epithelial carcinoma.B7-H4 may be regarded as a new marker used for  diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Key words: B7-H4 protein, CA125, ovarian neoplasms, immunohistochemistry