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[978] Calponin h1 Expression Is an Independent Prognostic Factor in Uterine Leiomyosarcomas

C Serrano, M Tebar, I Abdulkader, E Lerma, J Ordi, E Serrano, M Abad, E de Alava. Centro de Investigacin del Cncer-Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; Hospital Clnic, Barcelona, Spain

Background: Microscopic findings and tumor staging remain the main prognostic/predictive factors in Uterine Leiomyosarcomas (UL). Nevertheless, multi-gene expression profile studies provide the chance to search for new markers useful for diagnosis and prognosis. Hierarchical clustering analysis from a cDNA expression microarray of soft tissue tumors performed by Nielsen TO. et al., classified leiomyosarcomas into two sub-groups depending on calponin expression. Our aim was to evaluate the clinico-pathological correlations of calponin expression in a well characterized series of 59 UL.
Design: We performed a tissue microarray from 59 UL with adequate follow up, including three 0.6-mm cores for each case. Immunohistochemistry for Calponin monoclonal antibody (DakoCytomation, CA M3556, 1:50) was performed with the IHC DAB MAP system (Ventana Medical Systems). The intensity and the extension of the immunostaining were both scored from 0 to 3. The multiplicative index of intensity and extension was considered for analysis as a new semi-quantitative variable ranging 0 to 9. This variable was also recoded into two new variables following: a two-tier distribution (low/high) and a three-tier distribution (low/intermediate/high expression). Final case score resulted by obtaining the mean of three cores corresponding to each specimen. The end point for this study was overall survival. Survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results: A better outcome was associated to calponin immunoreactive tumors, using both the two and three-tiered expression scoring systems. Results showed statistical significance (log-rank p=0.0185 and 0.0086 respectively). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that high calponin expression predicted a longer survival, independently of both stage and presence of metastasis at the time of the diagnosis (p = 0.025).
Conclusions: We have demonstrated that leiomyosarcomas actually fell into two distinct subgroups depending on calponin h1 expression, which arises as an independent positive prognostic factor in UL patients. Supported by the Ministry of Health of Spain (FIS-FEDER C03-10), and the Regional Government of Castilla y Leon.
Category: Gynecologic

Monday, March 26, 2007 11:15 AM

Platform Session: Section C, Monday Morning