Cell cycle-related phosphatases CDC25A and B expression correlates with survival in ovarian cancer patients

Alterations in cell cycle regulating proteins are common in many cancer types. Recent data suggest a possible link between CDC25 phosphatases overexpression and malignancy. Our objective was to evaluate the expression of the three cell cycle-related phosphatases CDC25A, CDC25B and CDC25C in patients with ovarian cancer. All the patients had a minimal follow up of three years. CDC25A, CDC25B and CDC25C expression were investigated by immunohistochemistry in 106 patients with ovarian cancer. CDC25A and CDC25B were found expressed in almost all the samples analyzed, while CDC25C was undetectable in more than 80% of the patients. The low evaluable data on CDC25C expression, did not allow any association between the expression of this phosphatase and prognosis. The expression of CDC25A and CDC25B showed some evidences of association with a poor prognosis (p = 0.034 and p = 0.058 respectively). This relationship was independent of other factors such as tumor grade, histotype, stage and residual tumor after surgery. In the same patients the examined parameters (residual tumor, grade, stage and histotype) did show the expected relation with survival. The results indicate that high CDC25A and CDC25B expression is related to a worse prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. CDC25 phosphatases expression can be regarded as a possible prognostic factor for ovarian cancer and these proteins should be evaluated as potential molecular targets of novel drugs against this human neoplasm.