Expressions of fatty acid synthase and HER2 are correlated with poor prognosis of ovarian cancer.

Yunlang Cai,Mulan Ren,Di Wu,Xiaoqiang Tian,Xinru Jiang,Peilin Huang,Dandan Yu,Jun Liu,Yang Shen,Lin Zhang,Jingmei Wang,Lihua Zhang

doi:10.1007/s12032-014-0391-z

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the cross talk between fatty acid synthase (FASN) and HER2 (ErbB2) in ovarian cancer. A total of 60 ovarian cancer patients and 15 normal ovarian tissues were enrolled. Tissue array was conducted by using a tissue microarray instrument. Immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify the expressions of HER2 and FASN. The FASN was detected to be distributed in the cell cytoplasm and was significantly correlated with cancer grade (p = 0.000) and FIGO staging (p = 0.000). Patients with FASN overexpression in ovarian cancer tend to have a worse overall survival rate (p = 0.000). HER2 was also stained to be distributed in the cell cytoplasm associated with higher expression in high-grade cancer. It was also disclosed that FASN expression level is not correlated with HER2 status in ovarian cancer. These results for the first time indicated that a cross talk in FASN and HER2 expressions might be associated with prognosis in malignant ovarian cancer.

Highlights

Fatty acid synthase (FASN), one of the most important biosynthetic enzymes in lipogenesis, is regulated by hormones, growth factors and diet
The fatty acid synthase (FASN) was detected to be distributed in the cell cytoplasm and was significantly correlated with cancer grade (p = 0.000) and FIGO staging (p = 0.000)
Zhang Department of Pathology, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Dingjia Qiao Road 87, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu Province, China in ovarian cancer. These results for the first time indicated that a cross talk in FASN and HER2 expressions might be associated with prognosis in malignant ovarian cancer

Summary

Introduction

Fatty acid synthase (FASN), one of the most important biosynthetic enzymes in lipogenesis, is regulated by hormones, growth factors and diet. FASN expression is often upregulated in rapid proliferation cells. Inhibition of FASN expression could repress cell proliferation in various cancers [2]. For those reasons, FASN has become as an attractive target for cancer therapy in last 15 years [3]. The ‘‘HER2–PI3K/Akt–FASN axis’’ is involved in the regulation of malignant phenotype in colorectal cancer cells [5]. It is reported that a cross talk between ErbB and FASN mediates ovarian cancer cells proliferation [6]. We speculated that whether an ErbB/FASN cross talk plays a vital role in mediating malignant phenotype of ovarian cancer. Tissue array and immunohistochemistry were used for analysis of FASN and HER2 expressions, and the correlations of FASN and HER2 expressions with clinicopathological factors were statistically analyzed

Methods

Results

Conclusion