Overexpression of CHI3L1 is associated with chemoresistance and poor outcome of epithelial ovarian carcinoma

Oncotarget. 2015 Nov 24;6(37):39740-55. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.5469.

Abstract

We propose CHI3L1 as a prognostic biomarker for patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) and also suggest possible biological functions of CHI3L1. We measured CHI3L1 expression with quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 180 women with EOC and evaluated correlations between CHI3L1 expression, clinicopathological characteristics, and the outcomes of the patients. The expression of CHI3L1 was higher in cancerous tissues than in normal tissues. The expression of CHI3L1 was also higher in patients with a serous histological type, advanced stage, and chemoresistance. Patients with high CHI3L1 expression had a shorter progression-free survival (p < 0.001)and overall survival (p < 0.001). Patients with high CHI3L1 expression also had a high risk of recurrence (p < 0.001)and death (p < 0.001). In vitro studies showed that CHI3L1 up-regulated the expression of anti-apoptotic Mcl-1 protein and hampered paclitaxel-induced apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells. These results suggest that CHI3L1 shows potential as a prognostic biomarker for EOC. CHI3L1 may promote chemoresistance via inhibition of drug-induced apoptosis by up-regulating Mcl-1.

Keywords: CHI3L1; apoptosis; chemoresistance; epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adipokines / genetics*
  • Adipokines / metabolism
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Apoptosis / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism
  • Blotting, Western
  • Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / genetics*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
  • Humans
  • Lectins / genetics*
  • Lectins / metabolism
  • Middle Aged
  • Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein / genetics
  • Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein / metabolism
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / genetics*
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / metabolism
  • Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / therapy
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care / methods
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / therapy
  • Paclitaxel / pharmacology
  • Prognosis
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • RNA Interference
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • Adipokines
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • CHI3L1 protein, human
  • Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1
  • Lectins
  • MCL1 protein, human
  • Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein
  • Paclitaxel