Similar finding was observed in recurrent EOC without CNS metastases, with CD133+ expression being detected in 5.2% (1 of 19) platinum-sensitive patients vs. 40.0% (4 of 10) platinum-resistant patients (P = 0.036).
The number of CD133+ tumor cells ranged from 0%to39%9% (mean 6%) in primary EOC with CNS metastases, from 0%to33%3% (mean 2%) in EOC without CNS metastases, and from 0%to42%2% (mean 10%) in the 19 CNS metastatic tissue samples.
In a study limited to patients with stage III/IV EOC, women without ascites had a 5-year survival rate of 45%% compared to 5%% for those with ascites [ 69].
Moreover, determination of IL-6 levels could classify 68%% of the advanced stage serous EOC patients accurately, without falsely classifying patients with benign gynecological conditions.
In addition to patient demographics, tumor pathology, treatment regimens, and clinical outcomes, we compared putative cancer stem cell marker CD133 expression patterns in primary and metastatic lesions as well as in recurrent EOC with and without CNS metastases.
Thus serous EOC resemble fallopian tubes, endometrioid EOC have characteristics of the endometrium, mucinous EOC is similar to the endocervix and clear-cell EOC tumours resemble vaginal tissue.
Patients without an EOC event were treated as censored subjects.
On the other hand, when comparing EOC patients with and without CNS metastases, the overall survival was significantly better in CD133- expressing cases.
A genome-wide transcription analysis may identify other candidate molecules that have different expression levels in EOC patients with and without CNS metastases.
Finally, after adjustment of confounding factors, the women with endometriosis had a much higher risk of EOC than the women without (adjusted HR 5.62, 95% CI 3.46-9.14 vs. crude HR 4.48, 95% CI 2.84-7.06), suggesthat that women with a new surgico-pathological diagnosis of endometriosis indeed have a higher risk of EOC than women without.
A large series study, conducted on 575 women affected by EOC, optimally surgically debulked without macroscopic residual disease, showed that tumor cell type was both more reproducible and provided superior prognostic information compared with assignment of tumor grade [ 26, 27].
