Clinical significance of alpha-catenin, collagen IV, and Ki-67 expression in epithelial ovarian cancer.

PURPOSETo analyze alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression in epithelial ovarian cancer with special reference to their prognostic significance and correlations with clinical and pathologic characteristics, as well as cell proliferation marker Ki-67.PATIENTS AND METHODSAlpha-catenin, collagen IV, and Ki-67 expression was immunohistochemically analyzed in paraffin-embedded specimens of 316 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.RESULTSAlpha-catenin and collagen IV expression was not interrelated or related to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage or proliferation marker Ki-67. Alpha-catenin expression was reduced (< 100%) in 50% of primary tumors. Reduced alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression was directly related to high histologic grade (P < .001). In both univariate and multivariate analyses, Ki-67 proliferation significantly predicted overall survival. In the subset of 86 patients with stage I tumor, a reduced (< 100%) alpha-catenin expression approached statistical sign...