The expression and clinical significance of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and protein kinase B in the tissue of epithelial ovarian cancer

Objective To study the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (Akt) expression and clinical significance in the tissue of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).Methods Western Blot and immunohistochemical staining were applied to investigate the expression of PI3K and Akt in specimens of 41 patients with EOC (EOC group),20 patients with normal ovary (NO,NO group) and 20 patients with benign epithelial ovarian tumor (BEOT,BEOT group).Results The positive expression rate of PI3K in EOC group [70.7％(29/41)] was significantly higher than that in NO group and BEOT group [10.0％ (2/20),20.0％ (4/20)] (P ＜0.01).The positive expression rate of Akt in EOC group [73.2％ (30/41)] was significantly higher than that in NO group and BEOT group [10.0％ (2/20),30.0％ (6/20)] (P＜ 0.01).There was significant difference in the expression of PI3K and Akt between Ⅰ-1Ⅱ stage and Ⅲ-Ⅳ stage in EOC patients (P ＜ 0.05).There was no significant difference in the expression of PI3K and Akt between serous cystadenocarcinoma and mucous cystadenocarcinoma (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The expression of PI3K and Akt increases obvioualy in the tissue of EOC.PI3K and Akt may play important roles in carcinogenesis and metastasis of EOC.PI3K/Akt pathway may be served as a potential target for anticancer therapy. Key words: Ovarian neoplasms;  Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase;  Protein kinases