Cancer of the vagina: Laminin-5gamma2 chain expression and prognosis

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the expression and the prognostic impact of the gamma2 subchain of laminin-5 in vaginal malignancies. The outcome of the rare disease primary carcinoma of the vagina is poor and little is known about prognostic markers. The gamma2 chain of laminin-5, an epithelial basement membrane protein, is thought to play a crucial role in tumor cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation, and may thus be an additive potential marker. Archival, paraffin-embedded sections were stained immunohistochemically with an antibody against the gamma2 chain of human laminin-5 protein. The material consisted of 59 cases of primary vaginal malignancies, subdivided into short- and long-time survivors. All invasive malignancies of epithelial origin were positively stained with the antibody against the gamma2 chain. High expression of the gamma2 chain correlated significantly in an univariate analysis with short-time survival (P = 0.041), but in the multivariate analysis only age and tumor size were independent prognostic factors. A significant intercorrelation between large tumors and high gamma2 chain immunoreactivity was found (P = 0.003). These results indicate that laminin-5gamma2 subchain expression in primary vaginal carcinomas is of prognostic impact. However, in a multivariate analysis only patient age and tumor size had independent prognostic value.