Prognostic Values of Transforming Growth Factor‐Beta Subtypes in Ovarian Cancer

Purpose. To explore the potential role of the transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β) subtypes in the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. Materials and Methods. The prognostic roles of individual TGF‐β subtypes in women with ovarian cancer were retrieved from the Kaplan‐Meier plotter (KM plotter) database. In addition, the Oncomine database and immunohistochemistry were used to observe the mRNA and protein expression of TGF‐β subtypes between human ovarian carcinoma and normal ovarian samples, respectively. Results. TGF‐β1 and TGF‐β4 were totally uncorrelated with survival outcomes in women with ovarian cancer. Increased TGF‐β2 and TGF‐β3 mRNA expression was markedly related to unfavorable prognosis, especially in women with serous, poorly differentiated, and late‐stage ovarian carcinoma. High expression levels of TGF‐β2 were related to worse progression‐free survival (PFS) while TGF‐β3 was linked to unfavorable overall survival (OS) and PFS in women with TP53‐mutated ovarian cancer. TGF‐β2 was associated with poor OS and PFS from treatment with chemotherapy with platins, Taxol, or a platin+Taxol. However, overexpression of TGF‐β3 was associated with poor OS from the use of platins and poor PFS of Taxol or a platin+Taxol in women with ovarian carcinoma. Furthermore, the expression of TGF‐β2 mRNA and protein was higher but only TGF‐β3 mRNA expression was higher in cancerous tissues than in normal ovarian samples. Conclusion. Higher expression of TGF‐β2 functioned as a significant predictor of poor prognosis in women with ovarian cancer, especially those with TP53 mutations or who were undergoing chemotherapy with platins, Taxol, or a platin+Taxol.