Purpose: To investigate the expression and relevant clinical and pathological significance of AT-rich interactive domaincontaining protein 1A (ARID1A) mRNA in endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer.
Methods: The clinical and pathological data of 63 patients with ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) and of 43 patients with ovarian endometrioid adenocarcinoma (OEAC) were collected. The expression of ARID1A-encoded protein, baf250a, in ovarian cancer tissues was detected using immunohistochemistry. The ARID1A mRNA expression was detected via RNAscope hybridization in situ, and its correlation with the clinical and pathological features of patients was analyzed.
Results: The age at the onset of OEAC patients accompanied with endometriosis (CM-EAC) was lower than that of those not accompanied with endometriosis (NCM-EAC) (p<0.001). For patients with OCCC, the lymph node metastasis (LNM) rate of CM-CCC patients was significantly lower compared to NCM-CCC (p=0.02) and FIGO stage was earlier (stage I and II) (p=0.013). The expression of baf250a in OCCC group was significantly lower than that in the EAC group (p=0.033). In the OCCC group, baf250a was significantly related to early FIGO staging (stage I and II) (p=0.026), while its expression was not significantly associated with FIGO staging of EAC, age, tumor size, occurrence site and LND. The mRNA expression of ARID1A was positively correlated with the expression of baf250a (in OCCC group, rp=0.936, p<0.01; in OEAC group, rp=0.325, p=0.035). Analysis of prognosis showed that baf250a was an important prognostic factor rather than an independent prognostic factor, affecting the overall survival (OS) of patients with OCCC, while patients with low ARID1A mRNA expression had a longer-term OS.
Conclusion: The decreased gene and protein expression levels of ARID1A are related to the occurrence and development of endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer, especially OCCC. The detection of ARID1A mRNA expression may be used to predict the OS of OCCC.