Novel expression profiles and invasiveness-related biology function of DKK1 in endometrial carcinoma.

DKK1 is a negative regulator in the Wnt signal transduction pathway. It can inhibit the pathway's activation. Previous studies in some malignant tumors revealed the possibility that DKK1 is involved in tumorigenesis inducing abnormalities of the Wnt signal pathway. In this study, we showed that in benign and malignant endometrium, DKK1 exhibited novel expression profiles and invasiveness-related biology function: DKK1 was expressed in both glandular epithelium and matrix of two kinds of endometrium tissues and mostly distributed in the cytoplasm and epicytes of endometrial carcinoma (EC) Ishikawa cell line. DKK1 expression level in EC was significantly lower than that in benign endometrium. The expression correlated well with histology and clinical stage of EC. Exogenous DKK1 suppressed invasiveness of EC cells. Taken together, DKK1 is involved in genesis and early phase of EC by suppressing the invasiveness via the Wnt signal pathway. It shows promise as a biomarker for screening the progression of EC.