Expression Of Tc1 (C8orf4), Atonal Homolog 1 And Beta-Catenin Is Associated With The Malignant Progression Of Ovarian Carcinomas

Thyroid cancer 1 (TC1, C8ofr4) and Atonal homolog 1 (Atoh1) are involved in the regulation of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway, and participate the tumorigenesis and progression of many tumors. This study investigated the correlations among the expressions of TC1, Atoh1 and beta-catenin, and their roles in the progression of ovarian carcinomas. The expressions of TC1, Atoh1 and beta-catenin were examined in 112 cases of ovarian carcinomas using immunohistochemistry. The high expression rates of TC1, Atoh1 and beta-catenin were 82.14% (92/112), 72.32% (81/112) and 82.14% (92/112) in ovarian carcinomas, respectively. The high expression of TC1 was correlated with the histological type (P = 0.004), differentiation (P = 0.008) and TNM stage (P = 0.028) of ovarian carcinomas. The high expression rate of TC1 in serous adenocarcinomas (89.71%, 61/68) or clear cell carcinomas (100%, 8/8) was much more than that in Mucinous adenocarcinomas (68.42%, 13/19) or Endometrioid adenocarcinomas (58.82%, 10/17). Furthermore, the expression of TC1 was positively correlated with Atoh1 expression (correlation coefficient = 0.233, P = 0.014) and beta-catenin expression (correlation coefficient = 0.391, P<0.001), respectively. The expression of Atoh1 was correlated with beta-catenin expression (correlation coefficient = 0.285, P = 0.002), but was not correlated with any of the clinicopathological factors of ovarian carcinomas. The high expression of beta-catenin was correlated with the poor differentiation of ovarian carcinomas (P<0.001). The expressions of TC1, Atoh1 and beta-catenin were increased and correlated to each other in ovarian carcinomas. TC1 and beta-catenin were co-expressed and associated with the malignant progression of ovarian carcinomas.