Cadherin-11 (CDH11, OB-cadherin) is a mesenchymal
cadherin found to be upregulated in various types of
tumors and implicated in
tumor progression and
metastasis. In order to determine the role of CDH11 expression in ovarian
tumors, we performed a combined reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blot analysis and immunohistochemical study on a large cohort of benign, borderline and invasive ovarian
tumors. The RT-qPCR and western blot analysis demonstrated that the CDH11 expression was high in benign
cystadenomas and decreased with increasing
malignancy. This may be explained by the different
tumor-stroma ratios, since immunohistochemistry revealed strong staining of stromal cells, particularly vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells, but only weak cytoplasmic or nuclear immunoreactivity of
cancer cells. Within the group of invasive
carcinomas, high CDH11
protein expression, as detected by western blot analysis, was found to be significantly correlated with advanced stage and nodal involvement. However, the recurrence-free and overall survival analyses did not reveal any prognostic or predictive significance. In conclusion, in contrast to other
tumor types, CDH11 does not play an important role in
ovarian cancer progression.