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Clinical Significance of Overexpression of Oct4 in Advanced Stage Gallbladder Carcinoma

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Abstract

Background

Oct4 has critical role in maintaining pluripotency, proliferative potential, and self-renewal capacity in embryonic stem and germ cells. Although Oct4 has been shown to be upregulated in many cancers, its clinical significance in gallbladder carcinoma is poorly understood.

Methods

We studied the expression profile of Oct4 in 61 GBC and 30 chronic cholecystitis (as control) using real time RT-PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. The expression data was correlated with clinico-pathological parameters. The diagnostic utility was assessed through ROC curve, and prognostic value was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier method.

Results

Oct4 was significantly upregulated at mRNA as well as protein levels. The higher mRNA expression shows significant association with late stage, late T stage, and higher grade of tumor. A significant positive correlation was also observed with stage, T stage, and tumor grade. Sum score analysis of protein expression shows positive correlation with stage and the presence or absence of gallstone in tumor samples. The ROC curve analysis revealed the moderate diagnostic potential of Oct4. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients having higher expression of Oct4 were having low mean survival compared with the patients with lower Oct4 expression.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our data suggests that higher expression of Oct4 may serve as potential biological indicator for tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis of GBC.

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Availability of Data and Materials

The materials and datasets analyzed in the present study are available from the first author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge DST-PURSE, Banaras Hindu University; and UGC-UPE, Banaras Hindu University and IoE Faculty Incentive Grant to GN for financial assistance; Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for Junior and Senior research fellowships to DS; Department of Pathology, Institute of Medical Sciences; and Interdisciplinary School of Life Sciences and UGC-UPE, Banaras Hindu University for equipment facilities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Genetics Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Deepika Singh & Gopeshwar Narayan

  2. Department of Surgical Oncology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Dipanjan Biswas & Mallika Tewari

  3. Department of Pathology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Amrita Ghosh Kar

  4. Department of General Surgery, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Mumtaz Ahmad Ansari

  5. Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Sunita Singh

  6. Department of Surgical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, 400012, India

    Dipanjan Biswas

  7. Department of Radiation Oncology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, USA

    Deepika Singh

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  1. Deepika Singh
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Contributions

GN and SS designed and supervised the study; DS carried out the experiments and did statistical analysis of the data; DB, MT, and MAA provided the tumor and normal biopsies along with the clinical information; AGK did the scoring of all IHC slides; manuscript preparation was done by DS and overall editing was done by GN.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gopeshwar Narayan.

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Ethical Approval and Consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration ethical standards and approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee of Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee of Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Singh, D., Biswas, D., Tewari, M. et al. Clinical Significance of Overexpression of Oct4 in Advanced Stage Gallbladder Carcinoma. J Gastrointest Canc 54, 1231–1239 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-023-00913-8

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