European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Expression of tubulin, p53, Ki67, receptors for estrogen, and progesterone in endometrial cancer
Objective: We aimed at investigating by immunohistochemistry the relationship between tubulin and histological features of tumors, estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR), expression of p53, and Ki67 in a series of 84 primary untreated endometrial cancer patients. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded sections by using rabbit polyclonal antiserum against human class III β-tubulin, anti-ER, anti-PR, anti Ki67 and p53 monoclonal antibodies. Results: Expression of class III β-tubulin in proliferative phase endometrium was significantly higher than that in the secretory phase (X2 = 5.49, p value = 0.029). There was no difference in the distribution of tubulin positive cases between normal endometrium and endometrial carcinoma (X2 = 0.46, p value > 0.05). The immunostaining pattern of tubulin did not correlate with age, clinical stage, histological grade, depth of invasion, or expression of p53, Ki67, ER, and PR. Expression of ER and PR correlated with histological grade. Expression of p53 and Ki67 correlated with clinical stage and histological grade. Conclusions: We suggest that class III β-tubulin plays an important role during the normal biological processes of endometrium. It seems that tubulin has no prognostic value in endometrial carcinoma.