| Abstract [eng] |
Uterine cancer is the sixth most common cancer among women worldwide. The incidence of uterine cancer is increasing globally and in Lithuania as well. Much focus is recently laid on molecular genetic research in an attempt to identify the genetic disorders affecting the carcinogenesis of the uterine, and which markers can help to predict the prognosis of the disease and to choose individual treatment. The aim of this stydy was to determine the expression of the Notch signaling pathway components (receptors, ligands and targets) in tumor and adjacent normal uterine tissue and to evaluate their importance for the survival of uterine cancer patients. We sought to compare the expression of the Notch signaling pathway components in tumor and normal uterine tissues; to determine the expression of this pathway components at different stages of uterine cancer, degree of tumor differentiation, histologic type, lymphovascular and myometrial invasion; to carry out multivariate analysis and identify statistically significant prognostic factors. The results of this study revealed: 1) the Notch signaling pathway is suppressed in tumor tissue of the uterine; 2) the expression of this pathway components is related to the clinical-pathological characteristics of patients with uterine cancer; 3) a statistically significant association between patient survival and the degree of suppression of NOTCH2 gene expression was found in uterine cancer survival outcomes: the prognosis is worse with less suppressed NOTCH2 gene expression in tumor tissue as compared to its expression in normal tissue; 4) statistically significant independent prognostic factors are NOTCH2 gene expression, histologic type of uterine tumor, and stage of disease. |
