Clinical Impact of Natural Killer Group 2D Receptor Expression and That of Its Ligand in Ovarian Carcinomas: A Retrospective Study.

Purpose: Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells with antitumor activity. NKG2D is the most important activating receptor expressed on the NK cell surface; this receptor binds to the ligands MICA/B and ULBPs to activate NK cells. The current study aimed to evaluate the expression of NKG2D by NK cells, and to the evaluate expression of its ligands in ovarian carcinomas; it also examined the clinical relevance of NK receptor/ligand expression by analyzing the relationship between expression, clinicopathological parameters, and prognosis.

miR-145, targeting high-mobility group A2, is a powerful predictor of patient outcome in ovarian carcinoma.

MicroRNA-145 (miR-145) expression is downregulated in several human cancers, but its clinical and functional relevance to ovarian carcinoma has not yet been elucidated. This study addressed the hypothesis that miR-145 serves as a prognostic biomarker and a tumor suppressor that regulates the expression of high-mobility group A2 (HMGA2) oncoprotein in ovarian cancer. Here, we found that low miR-145 expression and HMGA2 overexpression determined by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry significantly correlated with advanced stage, lymph node involvement, and distant metastasis in 74 ovarian carcinomas.