Expression and significance of Dickkopf-1 LRP-5 and LRP-6 in human epithelial ovarian carcinomas.

Objective To determine the expression and significance of Dickkopf-1(DKK-1),LRP-5 and LRP-6 mRNA in human ovarian epithelial carcinomas.Methods We used the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) method to detect the expression of DKK-1,LRP-5 and LRP-6 mRNA in 56 malignant tumors,35 benign tumors,and 12 normal ovaries from January 2002 to April 2008 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,Shengjing Hospital,China Medical University.The correlation of DKK-1 with LRP-5 and LRP-6 and the association of their mRNA levels with clinicopathological parameters were performed.Results The expression of DKK-1,LRP-5 and LRP-6 mRNA was higher in epithelial ovarian cancers(0.90±0.32,0.71±0.27,0.80±0.28,respectively),as compared with the benign control group(0.58±0.23,0.58±0.29,0.54±0.22,respectively) and normal control group(0.36±0.29,0.40±0.25,0.32±0.27,respectively),(P0.0001).The expression of DKK-1 was statistically associated with FIGO stage(P=0.020)and differentiation(P=0.028).The expression of LRP-5 was statistically associated with FIGO stage(P=0.003) and differentiation(P=0.028).The expression of LRP-6 was statistically associated with FIGO stage(P=0.000).DKK-1 mRNA expression had correlations with LRP-5/6 mRNA expression(r=0.341,P 0.0001,r=0.815,P0.0001).Conclusion DKK1,LRP-5 and LRP-6 mRNA are highly expressed in ovarian carcinomas.They might play an important role in epithelial ovarian carcinogenesis.