Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) expression in ovarian carcinomas and its clinicopathological associations

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 26;8(12):e83238. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083238. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is known as a carrier protein. It is classically thought to be mainly synthesized in the liver and then secreted into the circulating system, where it binds to sex steroids with a high affinity and modulates the bio-availability of the hormones. Other organs known to produce SHBG include brain, uterus, testis, prostate, breast and ovary, and the local expressed SHBG may play an important role in tumor development. However, SHBG expression status and its clinicopathological significance in ovarian cancer cells are not reported yet. In our present study, we examined and found the variable SHBG expression in four ovarian cancer cell lines (OV-90, OVCAR-3, SKOV-3 and ES-2) by immunocytochemistry and Western blotting. We then extended our study to 248 ovarian carcinoma samples, which were collected at The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital with complete clinical information, and discovered that SHBG was variably expressed in these ovarian carcinomas. Higher level of SHBG expression was significantly associated with more aggressive histological subtype (p = 0.022), higher FIGO stage (p = 0.018) and higher histological grade (grade of differentiation, p = 0.020), although association between SHBG expression and OS/PFS was not observed. Our results demonstrate that ovarian cancer cells produce SHBG and higher SHBG expression in ovarian carcinoma is associated with unfavorable clinicopathological features.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Carcinoma / genetics
  • Carcinoma / metabolism*
  • Carcinoma / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / genetics
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology
  • Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin / genetics
  • Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin / metabolism*
  • Survival Analysis

Substances

  • Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin

Grants and funding

This study was funded by grants from Inger and John Fredriksen Foundation and Radium Hospital Research Foundation and The Norwegian Cancer Society. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.