Background: Fibronectin is involved in tumour neovascularisation and metastasis, prevents apoptosis and is considered to be immunosuppressive. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of fibronectin expression in ovarian carcinoma.
Materials and methods: Records and archival tumour tissue from 211 German women with ovarian carcinoma were reviewed. Total fibronectin was determined immunohistochemically (clone N-294). Univariate and residual Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used to correlate fibronectin expression with established prognostic indicators and overall survival.
Results: Fibronectin expression correlated significantly with tumour stage (p = 0.002) and tumour growth fraction (p = 0.005). The degree of expression had a significant adverse influence on overall survival even after other prognostic factors had been excluded (p = 0.009).
Conclusion: Fibronectin is an important prognostic factor in ovarian cancer and may be central to tumour progression. These findings offer new treatment possibilities since several agents may antagonise the mechanism of fibronectin expression.