216P - β-catenin is a potential prognostic biomarker in uterine sarcoma

Background

Uterine sarcoma (US) is an extremely rare and aggressive gynecologic malignancy with a poor overall survival (OS). The early screening and diagnosis of uterine sarcoma is still challenging, while efficient prognostic biomarker is currently lacking. In this study, we evaluated the expression of β-catenin in different US subtypes and the relationship between survival and clinicopathological characteristics.

Methods

We conducted a comparative analysis of β-catenin gene expression in different pathological types of US. Utilizing a Sweden microarray dataset (GSE119043, n=50) and a Suining clinical cohort (n=31), we analyzed β-catenin expression profiles and corresponding clinicopathological characteristics. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to evaluate the expression level of β-catenin in US subtypes. Survival analysis was used to assess the relationship between β-catenin expression and prognosis in US patients.

Results

The expression level of β-catenin significantly upregulated in the US group compared to both the UNSM and ULM groups (P<0.05). IHC exhibited a significant difference in β-catenin expression levels in four pathological subtypes. LMS and HG-ESS exhibited higher levels of β-catenin expression compared with AS or LG-ESS, but no statistically significant difference was displayed in box plot. Survival analyses indicated that no significance between β-catenin expression levels and survival. Only tumor recurrence was significantly correlated with poor survival. Tumor type, lymphadenectomy, family history of malignancy and tumor recurrence remained significant predictors of OS, while only tumor stage and tumor recurrence were associated with PFS (P<0.05). Age, tumor size, menopausal status, CA125, adjuvant chemotherapy, and adjuvant radiotherapy, were not associated with survival (P>0.05).

Conclusions

β-catenin was highly expressed in uterine sarcoma and promising as a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 82060475; Chunhui program of the Chinese Ministry of Education, Grant No. HZKY20220231; the Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province, Grant No. ZK2022-YB632; Youth Talent Project of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education, Grant No. QJJ2022-224; China Lung Cancer Immunotherapy Research Project, Excellent Young Talent Cultivation Project of Zunyi City, Zunshi Kehe HZ (2023) 142; Future Science and Technology Elite Talent Cultivation Project of Zunyi Medical University, ZYSE-2023-02; Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Ministry of Education, Grant No. 2020-39.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.