Abstract
Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecologic malignancy in Sweden and it
has various prognostic factors. The LRIG family is a group of three integral surface proteins with a
similar domain organization. The study aimed to explore LRIG family as prognostic factor proteins
in EC. The initial study cohort included 100 women with EC who were treated at the Department
of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, between 2007 and 2012.
We assessed the associations between LRIG protein expression and type, grade, and stage of EC,
as well as progression-free and overall survival. Immunohistochemistry results revealed that most
women in the analytical sample had >50% LRIG1-, LRIG2- and LRIG3-positive cells. A statistically
significant association was observed between having a high number of LRIG3-positive cells and
superior overall survival (incidence rate ratio = 0.977; 95% confidence interval: 0.958–0.996, p = 0.019).
Moreover, positive LRIG3 staining of the cell membrane was associated with reducing in the risk
of death (hazard ratio = 0.23; 95% confidence interval: 0.09–0.57). Our results show that LRIG3
expression might be a prognostic factor in EC. The role of LRIG1 and LRIG2 expression remains to be
further investigated.
