Immunohistochemical Investigation of the Correlation between LIM Kinase 1 Expression and Development and Progression of Human Ovarian Carcinoma

OBJECTIVES: LIM kinase 1 (LIMK1) is implicated in cellular mechanisms regulating tumour cell invasion and may be involved in ovarian carcinoma progression. This retrospective study, therefore, investigated expression of the LIMK1 gene in primary ovarian tumour tissue samples and evaluated the correlation between LIMK1 gene expression and progression of ovarian carcinoma. METHODS: LIMK1 protein levels were detected by immunohistochemistry in ovarian tissue samples from 57 patients with primary ovarian epithelial tumours (benign, n = 13; borderline, n = 14; carcinoma, n = 30) and 10 patients with normal ovaries. LIMK1 protein levels were evaluated by calculating the product of the scores for stain intensity and percentage of cells stained. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between increasing LIMK1 protein levels and increasing disease severity, from normal ovarian tissues through benign and borderline tumours to ovarian carcinoma. There was also a significant correlation between increasing LIMK1 protein levels and increasingly poor levels of differentiation of ovarian carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: LIMK1 is associated with the development of ovarian cancer and with the level of tumour differentiation in patients with ovarian carcinoma.