Relationship between CD177 and the vasculogenic mimicry, clinicopathological parameters, and prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer

Background: To explore the relationship between CD177 and the vasculogenic mimicry (VM), clinicopathological parameters, and prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: Tumor tissue samples and clinicopathological data were collected from 98 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. The expression of CD177 in tumor tissues was detected by immunohistochemical streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate (SP) method, while the VM structure in tumor tissues was identified by CD31/periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) double staining in order to analyze the relationship between CD177, VM, clinicopathological parameters, and the prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer. Results: The proportion of the positive expression of CD177 (CD177(+)) in 98 ovarian cancer tissues was higher than that of the negative expression of CD177 (CD177-) (65.31% vs. 34.69%, P<0.05). Univariate analysis showed that CD177(+) was associated with VM formation, tumor differentiation degree, tumor diameter, tumor stages, and platinum sensitivity (P<0.05), and was not associated with age, tumor types, or lymph node metastasis (P>0.05). Correlation analysis showed that CD177(+) was positively correlated with VM formation, tumor differentiation degree, tumor diameter, and tumor stages (P<0.05), and was negatively correlated with platinum sensitivity (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the survival time of CD177(+) patients was significantly shorter than that of CD177- patients (P<0.05). Conclusions: CD177(+) is associated with the tumor malignancy of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, and may participate in the formation of VM structure in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues. It can thus serve as important indicator for the prognosis of patients.