Analysis of protein expression of PTEN in malignant transformation of endometriosis.

Objectives:To investigate the relationship between the protein expression of PTEN and malignant transformation of endometriosis. Methods: 23 ovarian endometriosis cases (EM), 10 atypical hyperplasia endometriosis cases(aEMs) and 21 endometriosis associated ovarian carcinomas (EAOC) were chosen in this study. The expression of PTEN in different tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results: The expression positive rate of PTEN in EM and aEMs were 82.61% and 60.00 %, respectively, and it was 42.86% in EAOC. There was significant difference in the rate in EAOC compared with that in EM (P0.05). The positive rate of expression of PTEN in EAOC was not related to the age and histopathologic subtype of patients (P0.05), but had significant relationship with clinical stage and degree of differentiation (P0.05). The positive rate of PTEN protein in EAOC which was in early stage and well-or mid- differentiated was remarkably higher than that in late stage and low differentiation. Conclusions: PTEN plays an important role in the aggravated progression of ovarian endometriosis. PTEN might be a potential biodynamic criterion and a novel molecular theraputic target for malignant transformation of endometriosis.