The clinical and prognostic significance of the serum claudin-5 and zonulin in ovarian cance

The cells of the multicellular organism interact with each other through the system of cell contacts. In particular, epithelial cells are characterized by the formation of dense intercellular contacts that allow effectively carry out intercellular transport. A large number of proteins take part in the formation of tight contact, in particular the proteins of the claudin family and zonulin. In the process of malignant transformation, there is a loss of intercellular interactions and a change in the expression of proteins responsible for their formation by acquiring the mesenchymal phenotype by neoplastic cells. Objective A comparative analysis of the content of zonulin and claudin-5 in blood serum patients with ovarian cancer and healthy women, their connection with the main clinical and morphological characteristics of the tumor and the prognosis. Mediana and the quartiles of zonulin in the blood serum of patients with ovarian cancer were 57.4; 40.1–72.4 ng/ml, which is significant than in the control group: 11.4; 8.3–16.0 ng/ml, p <0.0001, while there were no such differences for claudin-5. Analysis of the Association of Zonulin and Claudin-5 in the blood serum of patients with ovarian cancer with clinical and morphological characteristics of the disease showed that an increase in the content of zonulin in blood serum is associated with a more common stage of the disease, a large tumor size and the presence of regional metastases, while for claudin-5 no significant associations were observed. The analysis did not reveal the prognostic role of the proteins studied in patients with ovarian cancer in blood serum. However, they have changes in the content of soluble forms of zonulin and claudin-5 in blood serum, which with further examination can help improve the monitoring systems of the clinical course of this disease.