Clinical significance of syndecan-1 and versican expression in human epithelial ovarian cancer

Proteoglycans are ubiquitous components of the extracellular matrix and cell surface, and may mediate tumor progression and metastasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of syndecan-1 and versican in epithelial ovarian cancer. We immunohistochemically evaluated the expression of syndecan-1 and versican in 111 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, and analyzed the correlation of this expression with various observed clinicopathological features, including patient outcome. There is a significant correlation between primary and metastatic sites with respect to syndecan-1 and versican expression. Epithelial syndecan-1 expression was significantly lower in patients with advanced disease. Epithelial versican expression was significantly higher in patients with early disease, especially in clear cell adenocarcinoma patients. Stromal syndecan-1 and versican expression was significantly higher in patients with advanced disease. Multivariate analysis showed that negative epithelial syndecan-1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival. Stromal syndecan-1 and versican co-expression was of borderline significance for progression-free and overall survival. Loss of epithelial syndecan-1 expression and induction of stromal syndecan-1 and versican expression may be associated with tumor progression in epithelial ovarian cancer. Syndecan-1 and versican expression status can serve as an indicator of prognosis in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.