Molecular events in endometrial carcinosarcomas and the role of high mobility group AT-hook 2 in endometrial carcinogenesis

Abstract

The molecular events implicated in the development of endometrial carcinosarcoma remain poorly understood. Using complementary DNA microarrays, we analyzed a group of 15 endometrial carcinosarcomas and compared their gene expression profiles with those obtained from a group of 23 endometrioid endometrial carcinomas. We demonstrated changes in the expression of genes modulating processes such as the epithelial to mesenchymal transition, muscle differentiation, the expression of cancer/testis antigens, and immune response in endometrial carcinosarcomas. The high mobility group AT-hook 2 gene is an embryonic nuclear factor that mediates epithelial to mesenchymal transition in various tumor models, and it was among the genes overexpressed in endometrial carcinosarcomas. High mobility group AT-hook 2 overexpression was confirmed in 54% of endometrial carcinosarcomas by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, we found a significant inverse correlation between the expression of high mobility group AT-hook 2 and let-7b, a member of the let-7 family of microRNAs that represses high mobility group AT-hook 2 expression. These changes were also associated with overexpression of Lin28B, a suppressor of microRNA biogenesis that is implicated in cancer progression and metastasis. Finally, high mobility group AT-hook 2 overexpression, which was detected in less than 3% of endometrioid endometrial carcinomas, was observed in many nonendometrioid carcinomas (46% of 28 samples). This pattern of expression, restricted to nonendometrioid carcinomas and endometrial carcinosarcomas, reflects a role for high mobility group AT-hook 2 in endometrial carcinogenesis that is associated with aggressive phenotypes and points to its potential use as a marker to distinguish between endometrioid and nonendometrioid tumors.