Background
Endometrioid ovarian carcinoma and clear cell ovarian carcinoma are both classified as endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer (EAOC). Despite the high rates of recurrence and mortality of EAOC, no prognostic biomarkers have been determined. ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 4C (ARL4C) has been reported to be involved in various tumor progression processes, but its clinical significance for predicting prognosis in EAOC cases has never been studied.
Conclusions
ARL4C is a biomarker for worse prognosis and a novel therapeutic target in EAOC.
Methods
ARL4C expression was semi-quantitatively evaluated via immunohistochemistry in 61 EAOC patients, and the correlations between ARL4C expression and clinicopathological data and survival were statistically analyzed.
Objective
The present study aimed to determine the clinical significance of ARL4C expression in EAOC prognosis.
Results
Thirty-six (59%) cases had high levels of ARL4C, which was related to worse 5-year overall survival (OS) (log-rank test, p= 0.036). In multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, high ARL4C expression was a significantly independent predictive factor for worse 5-year OS (hazard ratio = 12.048, p= 0.0201) and 5-year PFS (hazard ratio = 8.130, p= 0.0036). Conclusions: ARL4C is a biomarker for worse prognosis and a novel therapeutic target in EAOC.