Aims: The aim of the present study is to investigate the differential expression of CD44, CD47 and c-met in ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC), the correlation in their expression and their relationship with the biological behavior of OCCC.
Methods: We used immunohistochemistry to examine the expression of CD44, CD47 and c-met in OCCC (86 cases) and investigated the effects of the expression and interaction of these molecules on the development of OCCC.
Results: CD44, CD47 and c-met expression was significantly high in OCCC. Expression of CD44 and CD47 correlated with patient surgical stage, chemotherapy resistance and prognosis (all p<0.05), and expression of c-met correlated with chemotherapy resistance and prognosis (all p<0.05), but did not correlate with lymph node metastasis (all p>0.05). The surgical stage, CD44, CD47 and c-met expression were independent risk factors for OCCC prognosis (all p<0.05). Patients with low levels of CD44, CD47 and c-met showed better survival than those with high levels (all p<0.05). There was a positive correlation between CD44 (or CD47) and c-met, as well as between CD44 and CD47 (the Spearman correlation coefficient rs was 0.783, 0.776 and 0.835, respectively, all p<0.01). Additionally, pairwise correlation analysis of these three markers shows that the high expression of CD44/CD47, CD44/c-met and CD47/c-met were correlated with patient surgical stage, chemotherapy resistance and prognosis (all p<0.05), but did not correlate with lymph node metastasis (all p>0.05).
Conclusions: Expression of CD44, CD47 and c-met was upregulated in OCCC and pairwise correlation. CD44, CD47 and c-met may have synergistic effects on the development of OCCC and are prognostic factors for ovarian cancer.