PRSS3 expression is associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer

PRSS3 is an atypical isoform of trypsin that has been associated with breast, lung, and pancreatic cancers. This study aimed to elucidate the role of PRSS3 in tumor tissues of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and to investigate the prognostic value of this marker.

PRSS3 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR (RT-PCR) in ovarian cancers, benign ovarian tumors and the ovaries of age-matched normal patients. Correlations between clinicopathologic variables and PRSS3 expression in EOC tissues and the prognostic value of PRSS3 for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated.

PRSS3 expression was significantly elevated in EOC tissues compared to benign ovarian tumors and normal ovarian controls at both the mRNA and protein levels. There was a good correlation between the PRSS3 expression levels measured by the two different techniques. High PRSS3 expression in EOC tissues was significantly associated with advanced FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis. In a univariate survival analysis of the ovarian carcinoma cohort, positive expression of PRSS3 was significantly associated with shortened patient survival. Importantly, PRSS3 expression was a significant independent prognostic parameter in the multivariate analysis.

These findings indicate that PRSS3 overexpression can be used as a predictor of clinical outcome in patients with ovarian cancer and may therefore represent a new prognostic marker.