Cadherin-11 (CDH11, OB-cadherin) is a mesenchymal cadherin found to be upregulated in various types of tumors and implicated in tumor progression and metastasis. In order to determine the role of CDH11 expression in ovarian tumors, we performed a combined reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blot analysis and immunohistochemical study on a large cohort of benign, borderline and invasive ovarian tumors. The RT-qPCR and western blot analysis demonstrated that the CDH11 expression was high in benign cystadenomas and decreased with increasing malignancy. This may be explained by the different tumor-stroma ratios, since immunohistochemistry revealed strong staining of stromal cells, particularly vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells, but only weak cytoplasmic or nuclear immunoreactivity of cancer cells. Within the group of invasive carcinomas, high CDH11 protein expression, as detected by western blot analysis, was found to be significantly correlated with advanced stage and nodal involvement. However, the recurrence-free and overall survival analyses did not reveal any prognostic or predictive significance. In conclusion, in contrast to other tumor types, CDH11 does not play an important role in ovarian cancer progression.
Keywords: borderline tumors; cadherin-11; immunohistochemistry; ovarian cancer; prognosis; western blot analysis.