Chemokine axes CXCL12/CXCR4 and CXCL16/CXCR6 correlate with lymph node metastasis in epithelial ovarian carcinoma

Recent evidence suggests that the chemokine axis of CXC chemokine ligand-12 and its receptor CXC chemokine receptor-4 (CXCL12/CXCR4) is highly expressed in gynecological tumors and the axis of CXC chemokine ligand-16 and CXC chemokine receptor-6 (CXCL16/CXCR6) is overexpressed in inflammation-associated tumors. This study aimed to determine the relationship between CXCL12/CXCR4, CXCL16/CXCR6 and ovarian carcinoma's clinicopathologic features and prognosis. Accordingly, the expression of these proteins in ovarian tissues was detected by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. The expressions of CXCL12/CXCR4 and CXCL16/CXCR6 were significantly higher in epithelial ovarian carcinomas than in normal epithelial ovarian tissues or benign epithelial ovarian tumors. The expression of chemokines CXCL12 and CXCL16 were positively correlated with their receptors CXCR4 and CXCR6 in ovarian carcinoma, respectively (r = 0.300, P < 0.05; r = 0.395, P < 0.05). Moreover, the expression of CXCL12 was related to the occurrence of ascites (Χ² = 4.76, P < 0.05), the expression of CXCR4 was significantly related to lymph node metastasis (Χ(2) = 4.37, P < 0.05), the expression of CXCR6 was significantly related to lymph node metastasis (Χ² = 7.43, P < 0.05) and histological type (Χ² = 33.48, P < 0.05). In univariate analysis, the expression of CXCR4 and CXCL16 significantly correlated with reduced median survival (Χ² = 4.67, P < 0.05; Χ² = 4.48, P < 0.05). Therefore, we conclude that the chemokine axes CXCL12/CXCR4 and CXCL16/CXCR6 may play important roles in the growth, proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.