Analysis of the expression of angiotensin II type 1 receptor and VEGF in endometrial adenocarcinoma with different clinicopathological characteristics

In Poland, endometrial carcinoma takes second place after breast cancer among all cancers in women and is considered the most common genital cancer. It has been repeatedly reported that angiotensin is involved in the development and invasion of some cancers including breast, ovarian, and pancreatic ones. It is suggested that angiotensin two and its receptors are actively involved in tumour biology in endometrial adenocarcinoma. In the present study, we identify a possible relationship between the expression of AT1-R, AT2-R, ERα, and VEGF and clinicopathological characteristics of primary endometrial adenocarcinoma. We determined the above components both at the mRNA (real-time RT-PCR) and protein levels (Western Blot assay). Our results indicate that in patients with grade G3 adenocarcinoma, the expression of AT1-R significantly decreased in comparison with G1 patients (p = 0.034), but the level of ERα was the highest in G2 and the lowest in G3. Moreover, the level of VEGF mRNA significantly increased between G2 and G3 (p = 0.034). We also noted a significant correlation between the expression of AT1-R and AT2-R in FIGO stage 1 (R _s = 0.9636; p = 0.0001) and that of AT2-R and VEGF (R _s = 0.5377; p = 0.005). In grade G1 and G2 carcinoma, a significant correlation was also found between the expression of AT1-R and AT2-R (R _s = 0.9924; p = 0.0001; R _s = 0.8717, p = 0.0005, respectively), but in grade G1, a negative correlation was observed between AT1-R and VEGF (R _s = −0.8945, p = 0.0005). Further studies are required to clarify the biological function of the angiotensin receptor in regulating VEGF expression in endometrial carcinoma.