Vitamin D receptor expression in hydatidiform mole and gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: A cross-sectional study

Objective

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) exerts anti-cancer properties in a variety of cancers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of VDR in patients with hydatidiform mole (HM) and gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN).

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study involved 61 specimens of HM (n = 37, 60.7%) and GTN (n = 24, 39.3%) was collected from the biopsy. An immunohistochemistry was used to asses the VDR expression. Student's t-test and Mann–Whitney test were used to compare the expression of VDR, including VDR staining intensity, VDR distribution, and histoscore, between HM and GTN tissue specimens.

Results

No significant differences in age and parity were noted between patients with HM or GTN (p > 0.05). The VDR staining intensity of GTN tissue specimens was significantly lower than that of HM tissue specimens (2.3 ± 0.8 vs. 2.8 ± 0.5, p = 0.008). In addition, the histoscore for GTN tissues was significantly lower than that for HM tissues (7.3 ± 3.2 vs. 9.4 ± 28, p = 0.016). However, no significant differences in VDR distribution between GTN and HM tissues were observed (3.3 ± 0.8 vs. 3.3 ± 1.0, p = 0.525).

Conclusion

Low VDR expression is associated with GTN, whereas high VDR expression is associated with HM, suggesting that the expression of VDR may regulate the severity of gestational trophoblastic disease.