Overexpression of CD44 variant 6 in human endometrial cancer and its prognostic significance

Objective. We evaluated the prognostic significance of CD44 isoform CD44 V6 in endometrial cancer. Method. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of CD44 V6 in 78 randomly selected endometrial cancer specimens. Results. CD44 V6 was detected in 53% (41/78) of the tumor samples. Clinicopathological evaluation revealed an inverse correlation with CD44 V6 expression and conventional poor prognosticators such as lower segment involvement, nuclear and structural grade, myometrial invasion, serosal involvement, lymph-vascular space invasion, and adnexal metastasis. Furthermore, the CD44 V6-negative group was found to be associated have a higher recurrence rate and a shorter disease-free survival. Conclusion. These findings indicate that absence of CD44 V6 expression in cases of endometrial cancer might be coupled with a more aggressive course. (C) 2001 Academic Press.