TY - JOUR T1 - Mammaglobin B expression in human endometrial cancer JF - International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer JO - Int J Gynecol Cancer SP - 1090 LP - 1096 DO - 10.1111/j.1525-1438.2007.01137.x VL - 18 IS - 5 AU - R. A. Tassi AU - E. Bignotti AU - M. Falchetti AU - S. Calza AU - A. Ravaggi AU - E. Rossi AU - F. Martinelli AU - E. Bandiera AU - S. Pecorelli AU - A. D. Santin Y1 - 2008/08/01 UR - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/18/5/1090.abstract N2 - Mammaglobin B (MGB-2) is an uteroglobin gene family member recently found highly differentially expressed in ovarian cancer by gene expression profiling. To evaluate its potential as a novel endometrial cancer biomarker, in this study we quantified and compared MGB-2 expression at messenger RNA and protein levels in endometrial tumors (endometrioid endometrial cancer [EEC]) with different grades of differentiation. MGB-2 expression was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in fresh frozen biopsies and paraffin-embedded tissues derived from a total of 70 patients including 50 primary EEC and 20 normal endometria (NECs). High levels of MGB-2 gene expression were detected in 10 of 11 EEC G1 cases (91%), 16 of 17 EEC G2 cases (94%), and 6 of 22 EEC G3 cases (27%) by real-time PCR. In contrast, normal endometrial cells expressed low to negligible levels of MGB-2 by real-time PCR (P= 0.002 EEC vs NEC). Well- and moderately differentiated EECs overexpressed MGB-2 gene at significant higher levels when compared to NECs (P< 0.01). Pairwise differences between both G2 and G1 vs G3 cases for MGB-2 relative gene expression values were also statistically significant (G2 vs G3 P< 0.001, G1 vs G3 P= 0.016). MGB-2 protein expression was detected in 31 (86%) of 36 EEC and 0 of 5 atrophic NEC controls, while seven of eight (88%) of the proliferative/secretory/hyperplastic NECs focally expressed MGB-2 by IHC. MGB-2 is highly expressed in EEC, particularly in well- and moderately differentiated tumors, and may represent a novel molecular marker for EEC. ER -