Overexpression of GPC6 and TMEM132D in Early Stage Ovarian Cancer Correlates with CD8+ T-Lymphocyte Infiltration and Increased Patient Survival

Abstract EN

Infiltration of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in ovarian cancer is a favorable prognostic factor.

Employing a differential expression approach, we have recently identified a number of genes associated with CD8+ T-cell infiltration in early stage ovarian tumors.

In the present study, we validated by qPCR the expression of two genes encoding the transmembrane proteins GPC6 and TMEM132D in a cohort of early stage ovarian cancer patients.

The expression of both genes correlated positively with the mRNA levels of CD8A, a marker of T-lymphocyte infiltration [Pearson coefficient: 0.427 ( p = 0.0067 ) and 0.861 ( p < 0.0001 ), resp.].

GPC6 and TMEM132D expression was also documented in a variety of ovarian cancer cell lines.

Importantly, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that high mRNA levels of GPC6 and/or TMEM132D correlated significantly with increased overall survival of early stage ovarian cancer patients ( p = 0.032 ) .

Thus, GPC6 and TMEM132D may serve as predictors of CD8+ T-lymphocyte infiltration and as favorable prognostic markers in early stage ovarian cancer with important consequences for diagnosis, prognosis, and tumor immunobattling.