KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the relationship between CYP7B1 expression levels in EC tissues and patient prognosis.
- Researchers noticed that high CYP7B1 protein expression is associated with improved OS.
Endometrial cancer (EC) is among the most common gynecological malignancies, with rising incidence rates linked to increasing obesity levels. Significant advancements have been made in the treatment of EC through immunotherapy, particularly with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Despite the expression of CYP7B1 in EC tissues, its prognostic association necessitates further investigation.
Xiao-Fang Lu and the team aimed to evaluate the relationship between CYP7B1 expression levels in EC and patient outcomes.
They performed an inclusive analysis to assess CYP7B1 protein expression in paraffin-embedded endometrial tumor sections using immunohistochemistry and image analysis software. Associations between CYP7B1 and clinical factors were evaluated with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.
Survival was described using Kaplan-Meier curves, with differences analyzed through the log-rank test. Cox regression analysis was utilized to determine the association between CYP7B1 expression and the prognosis of patients with EC.
About 307 patients were enrolled with an average age of 52.6 ± 8.0 years at diagnosis. During the follow-up period, 46 patients (15.0%) died, and 29 (9.4%) experienced recurrence. The expression of CYP7B1 protein was found to be significantly higher in the cytoplasm than in the nucleus (P < 0.001). Patients aged < 55 years (P = 0.040), those who were ER-positive (P = 0.028), and PR-positive patients (P < 0.001) reported higher levels of CYP7B1 protein.
Both univariate (HR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.18-0.90, P = 0.025) and multivariate (HR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.16-0.79, P = 0.011) Cox regression analyses demonstrated that high CYP7B1 protein expression predicts longer overall survival (OS).
In the subset of ER-positive patients (n = 265), CYP7B1 protein expression showed a stronger association with OS (HR = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.08-0.52, P = 0.001). The 3-year OS and 5-year OS in the low-CYP7B1 subgroup were 81.6% and 76.8%, respectively, while in the high-CYP7B1 subgroup, these rates were 93.0% and 92.0%, respectively (P = 0.021).
The study concluded that high CYP7B1 protein expression is associated with longer OS, indicating its potential role as an important molecular marker for the prognosis of EC.
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39289693/
Lu XF, Huang T, Chen C, et al. (2024). “Association of CYP7B1 expression with the prognosis of endometrial cancer: a retrospective study.” World J Surg Oncol. 2024;22(1):251. Published 2024 Sep 17. doi:10.1186/s12957-024-03504-4
