Evaluation of the diagnostic utility of MCAM-1 (CD146) in a group of common gynecological cancers: A case-control study

Objectives: MCAM -1(CD146) is an endothelial cell adhesion molecule belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. Recent studies have found CD146 expression as a critical marker for tumor progression, migration, and metastasis in various malignancies. This study aims to evaluate CD146 immunohistochemical expression in various gynecological cancers.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted in a tertiary medical center in central India. A total of 49 gynecological cancer cases and 16 site-matched controls were taken. The cases comprised 27 cervical, 10 endometrial, 10 ovarian, and two miscellaneous cancers. CD146 immunohistochemistry was carried out and assessed for immunoreactivity score(IRS), microvascular density (MVD), and microvascular caliber (MVC). An IRS of 5 or more was considered CD146 positive.
Results: The p value for CD146 positivity for cases vs control was 0.0531, 0.0580 and 0.007 for cervical, endometrial and ovarian sites respectively. The mean MVD was found to be significantly higher in cases compared to benign tissues (p value<0.00001) and the mean MVC of cases was found to be smaller when compared to the controls (p-value< 0.0001).
Conclusion: MVD by CD146 was found to be higher in the gynecological malignancies highlighting its role in cancer neo-angiogenesis and its potential therapeutic role. CD146 epithelial expression was also significantly higher in ovarian cancers. Further studies with larger sample size need to be done to support that this protein may be a potential theranostic target in gynecological cancers.