Expression of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 Protein in Epithelial Ovarian Tumor and Relation of The Expression with Cell Apoptosis and Proliferation

Objective: To explore the relation of caspase-3 and bcl-2 protein with the occurrence and development of epithelial ovarian tumor. Methods: Seventy-two cases of primary ovarian tumor were studied by using immunohistochemistry and TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method, to examine the expression of caspase-3, bcl-2, proliferating cell antigen (PCNA) and the condition of cell apoptosis. Results: The positive rate of caspase-3 in malignant ovarian tumor was 44.2%, which was obviously lower than the expression in benign tumor (83.3%, P0.05). The expression of caspase-3 in malignant ovarian tumor was correlated with its differentiation and stage (P0.01). The positive rate of bcl-2 in malignant ovarian tumor was significantly higher than in benign tumor (P0.01). while decreased with the decreasing of malignant ovarian tumor's differentiation (P0.01). Apoptosis index correlated positively with proliferating index (r=0.482, P0.01) and the expression of caspase-3 (r=0.647, P0.01), while inversely with the expression of bcl-2 (r=-0.531, P0.01). Conclusion: There is close relation between the expression of caspase-3, bcl-2protein and cell apoptosis in epithelial ovarian tumor. caspase-3, bcl-2 may participate in the regulating mechanism of cell apoptosis and have function in changing malignance. The expression of caspase-3 and bcl-2 protein have close relation with malignant degree of ovarian cancer and might be reference of estimating the prognosis.