Clinical Significance of Overexpression of Oct4 in Advanced Stage Gallbladder Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Oct4 has critical role in maintaining pluripotency, proliferative potential, and self-renewal capacity in embryonic stem and germ cells. Although Oct4 has been shown to be upregulated in many cancers, its clinical significance in gallbladder carcinoma is poorly understood.

METHODS

We studied the expression profile of Oct4 in 61 GBC and 30 chronic cholecystitis (as control) using real time RT-PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. The expression data was correlated with clinico-pathological parameters. The diagnostic utility was assessed through ROC curve, and prognostic value was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS

Oct4 was significantly upregulated at mRNA as well as protein levels. The higher mRNA expression shows significant association with late stage, late T stage, and higher grade of tumor. A significant positive correlation was also observed with stage, T stage, and tumor grade. Sum score analysis of protein expression shows positive correlation with stage and the presence or absence of gallstone in tumor samples. The ROC curve analysis revealed the moderate diagnostic potential of Oct4. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients having higher expression of Oct4 were having low mean survival compared with the patients with lower Oct4 expression.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, our data suggests that higher expression of Oct4 may serve as potential biological indicator for tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis of GBC.