Role of bcl-2 in endometrioid corpus cancer: an experimental study.

Background: Bcl-2 expression appears to be under hormonal control in normal endometrium and to correlate with hormone receptor status in endometrial cancer. The aim of this study was to assess bcl-2 expression in endometrial cancer.

Materials And Methods: Hysterectomy specimens from 125 patients with endometrial cancer were stained for bcl-2. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) levels were quantified with a dextran-coated charcoal assay.

Results: Bcl-2 expression correlated significantly with endometrioid histology and high levels of ER and PR (p < 0.05). For the entire population, bcl-2 expression was not significantly associated with the presence of extrauterine disease. However, when only patients with grade 1 or 2 endometrioid histology were considered, tumors with bcl-2 expression were significantly (p < 0.05) more likely to present with extrauterine disease than those not expressing bcl-2.

Conclusion: Bcl-2-mediated inhibition of apoptosis may be important in the acquisition of molecular alterations and development of metastases in a subset of hormone-dependent endometrial cancers.