Study on the correlation between ceruloplasmin expression and chemotherapy resistance and recurrence in epithelial ovarian cancer

QIN Qian; MA Rui; WEI Bin; MI Jia-qing; SHANG Yun; FENG Qin-mei

doi:10.13820/j.cnki.gdyx.20242025

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression levels of ceruloplasmin(Cp)in various ovarian tissues through immunohistochemistry(IHC)and to analyze its association with chemotherapy resistance and recurrence in epithe-lial ovarian cancer(EOC).Methods A total of 127 EOC tissue samples from patients who underwent initial surgical treatment at Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital between January 2015 and December 2018 were collected.Additionally,67 borderline ovarian tumor samples,30 benign ovarian tumor samples,and 30 normal ovarian tissue samples were includ-ed.The expression of Cp was detected using the IHC SP method,and its differences among tissue types were compared u-sing the chi-square test.Clinical and follow-up data were collected,and patients were classified into platinum-sensi-tive,partially sensitive,and platinum-resistant groups according to the standards of the Gynecologic Oncology Group(GOG).The relationship between Cp expression and chemotherapy resistance or recurrence-related clinical characteris-tics in EOC was analyzed using chi-square tests.Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were employed to i-dentify independent risk factors for EOC recurrence,while Kaplan-Meier survival curves assessed the impact of Cp ex-pression on recurrence-free survival.Results Cp expression was significantly higher in EOC tissues compared to borde-rline tumors,benign tumors,and normal ovarian tissues(P＜0.05).Cp expression levels were significantly higher in the platinum-resistant and partially sensitive groups compared to the platinum-sensitive group(P＜0.05).Cp expression was significantly associated with the presence of ascites,FIGO stage,lymph node metastasis,pathological grade,histolog-ical type,and tumor markers CA125 and HE4(P＜0.05).High Cp expression,advanced FIGO stage,and elevated pre-operative HE4 levels were identified as independent risk factors for EOC recurrence(P＜0.05).High Cp expression was associated with a significantly shorter recurrence-free survival time(P＜0.05).Conclusion Cp is highly expressed in EOC tissues and is significantly correlated with chemotherapy resistance.It serves as an independent risk factor for recur-rence and can be utilized to predict recurrence following initial treatment.