Prognostic significance of discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) expression in ovarian cancer.

Increasing evidence has suggested that discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) plays an important role in cancer development and metastasis. However, the correlation between DDR2 expression and clinical outcome in ovarian cancer has not been investigated. In this study, DDR2 expression was examined by Real-time PCR in surgically resected ovarian cancer and normal ovary tissues. Besides, DDR2 expression was analyzed immunohistochemically in 103 ovarian cancer patients, and the correlation between DDR2 expression with clinicopathologic factors was analyzed. The result showed that DDR2 mRNA expression was upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues compared with normal ovary tissues. Statistical analysis revealed that DDR2 expression correlated with tumor stage (P = 0.008) and peritoneal metastasis (P = 0.009). Patients with high DDR2 expression showed poorer 5-year overall survival (P = 0.005), and DDR2 remained an independent prognostic marker for OS (P = 0.013) in multivariate analysis. Our results suggest that DDR2 might be closely associated with ovarian cancer progression and metastasis. Its high expression may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker in human ovarian cancer.