Plakin Expression in Serous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Has the Potential to Impede Metastatic Spread and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition: A Comparative Expression Analysis of Immunohistochemical and In Silico Datasets.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is aggressive and causes high mortality among women worldwide. Members of the plakin family are essential to maintain cytoskeletal integrity and key cellular processes. In this study we characterised the expression of plakins, particularly plectin (PLEC), periplakin (PPL), envoplakin (EVPL), and EMT-related proteins by immunohistochemistry in n = 48 patients' samples to evaluate a potential correlation of plakin expression with EMT as EOC progresses.

The attributes of plakins in cancer and disease: perspectives on ovarian cancer progression, chemoresistance and recurrence.

The plakin family of cytoskeletal proteins play an important role in cancer progression yet are under-studied in cancer, especially ovarian cancer. These large cytoskeletal proteins have primary roles in the maintenance of cytoskeletal integrity but are also associated with scaffolds of intermediate filaments and hemidesmosomal adhesion complexes mediating signalling pathways that regulate cellular growth, migration, invasion and differentiation as well as stress response. Abnormalities of plakins, and the closely related spectraplakins, result in diseases of the skin, striated muscle and nervous tissue.