An Analysis for the Association of Highly Expressed PTX3 with Poor Prognosis and Malignant Behavior of Endometrial Cancer Cells

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the association of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) expression with the clinicopathological features of patients suffering from endometrial cancer (EC). Methods: A total of 150 patients diagnosed with EC were recruited in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from 2015 to 2019, and their EC and tumor-adjacent histologically normal tissues (normal) were collected. Then, quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blot were employed for detecting the PTX3 expression levels and analyzing how PTX3 expression levels could affect the overall survival rate of EC patients. The Chi-square test was used for the correlation analysis of PTX3 expression levels and clinicopathological features, and the Cox regression analysis model was utilized for the risk factor prediction of poor prognosis in EC patients. HEC1B cell transfection was carried out with PTX3 siRNA, Vector, PTX3 and siRNA overexpression plasmids. Then, the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of cells were detected using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide), scratch, and transwell assays, respectively;And the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 expression levels in the cells were checked through Western blot. Results: First, we discovered that PTX3 was highly expressed in the EC group and the high expression resulted in poor prognosis of patients. Moreover, the PTX3 expression level was also bound up with body mass index (BMI), lymph node metastasis, tumor size, FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) staging, and myometrial infiltration. Furthermore, the PTX3 expression level was also one of the independent risk factors in EC patients suffering from poor prognoses. When the expression of PTX3 was knocked down, the invasion, proliferation and migration abilities of HEC1B cells were notably down-regulated, as well as the MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression levels. Conclusions: Highly expressed PTX3 has a bearing on the poor prognosis and malignant behavior of EC cells.