Can Nup88 expression be associated with atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer? A preliminary study

Nup88 is overexpressed in a number of types of carcinomas and is associated with myometrial invasion, but its exact expression pattern in endometrial cancer and premalignant lesions is unknown.

To evaluate the role of Nup88 in endometrial cancers and atypical endometrial hyperplasia and its clinicopathological significance.

Nup88 expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in samples from 104 endometrial cancers, 21 atypical endometrial hyperplasia lesions, and 40 normal endometria. All samples were from patients who underwent surgery at the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University (Shijiazhuang, China) between April 2006 and December 2009. Nup88 expression was compared between the groups and associations were assessed between Nup88 and clinicopathological characteristics of the subjects.

Nup88 expression in cancer (76% of samples) and atypical hyperplasia (91%) was significantly higher compared to normal endometrium (33%, both P<0.001), but there was no significant difference between endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia (P=0.237). The expression of Nup88 increased significantly with increasing exposure time to estrogen (P=0.033).

Nup88 may be related to the occurrence of endometrial cancers and premalignant lesions. Nup88 might be a useful biomarker for pre-malignant lesions and early-stage endometrial cancer.