Background: Carcinogenesis is associated with several critical regulatory molecules which are involved in different signaling pathways such as the WNT signaling pathways. Among which the β-catenin dependent pathway has been associated with human endometrial cancer. Genetic and biochemical studies have demonstrated that glypicans can regulate several signaling pathways including those triggered by Wnts. Glypican 3 is one of six mammalian members of the glypican family of proteoglycans. Overexpression of glypican 3 has been reported in some types of cancers but only few data are available about its expression in endometrial carcinoma and its role in endometrial carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to examine the immunohistochemical expression of glypican 3 in endometrioid endometrial carcinoma (EEC) and serous endometrial carcinoma (SEC), and to correlate its expression with prognostic factors of endometrial carcinoma.
Materials and methods: Immunohistochemical expression of glypican 3 was studied in fifty two EEC and nineteen SEC cases.
Results: Glypican 3 expression showed a significant difference between EEC and SEC (P = 0.027) and it was significantly correlated with tumor grade, stage and myometrial invasion (P = 0.001).
Conclusion: Glypican 3 expression can be used as an adjunct in the differentiation between EEC and SEC. Glypican 3 is associated with poor prognostic parameters in both EEC and SEC, and it can be a promising molecule for targeted immunotherapy in positive cases.
Keywords: Glypican 3; endometrial carcinoma; immunohistochemistry.