Most of the carcinomas arising from the uterus, defined as type I, are estrogen dependent and thank to their early diagnosis after postmenopausal bleeding, they have a good prognosis. By contrast, type II Endometrial cancers develop in older patients, they are not hormone dependent and they are responsible for most recurrences and deaths from Endometrial Cancer. To this last group belongs the uterine serous papillary cancer (USPC) which constitutes up to 10% of all endometrial tumors, it represents the most biologically aggressive variant, being responsible for up to 40% of endometrial cancer deaths. It is frequently characterized by a particular pattern of molecular alterations, such as p53 mutations and erbB2 overexpression, that underlie pathogenesis and progression. Because of poor results with surgery alone, both radiation therapy and chemotherapy have been added postoperatively in order to improve outcomes in patients with uterine serous papillary cancer. However, the benefit of these practices, as well as the optimal treatment for each disease stage remains undefined. Targeted therapy may represent a reasonable and innovative approach for the treatment of Uterine Serous Cancer refractory to standard treatment modalities.
This is the first research studying LRIGs in the USPC. First it would be useful to evaluate if this molecular mark is another characteristic feature of serous carcinomas, differentiating it from endometrioid carcinomas, partially explaining another cause of different prognosis of the two types of tumor. In second line, given the interesting findings from studies about other types of cancer, we could stratify the risk of patients with USPC basing on the immunohistochemical analysis of LRIG1-2-3 (negative ones from positive ones). Moreover, if the results will permit us to evaluate the individual prognosis, in the future in vitro studies could select biological therapies to individualize the adjuvant treatment of women with USPC and probably better their prognosis.