Overexpression of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) in ovarian cancer

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is one of the important challenges in the field of gynecologic oncology because of some problems in understanding its etiology and pathogenesis. Receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a multiligand trans-membranous receptor which is upregulated in some human cancers. Mechanisms of RAGE involvement in carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer are unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the expression of RAGE in ovarian cancers and its association with clinicopathological characteristics. METHODS: The RAGE expression level in ovarian cancer and corresponding noncancerous tissues were analyzed by real time quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry techniques. RESULTS: Results indicated that RAGE gene was overexpressed in ovarian cancer tissue compared with adjacent noncancerous tissue (p < 0.001). A significant association between RAGE expression and tumor size (p = 0.04), depth of stromal invasion (p = 0.031), lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.041) and stage of cancer (p = 0.041) was observed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses yielded the area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.86 for RAGE in discriminating ovarian cancer samples from non-cancer controls. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion overexpression of RAGE in ovarian cancer may be a useful biomarker to predict tumor progression.