Aim
The purpose of the present study was to explore variation and prognostic significance of serum plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1) before the first cycle of chemotherapy and after the sixth cycle of chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients who had undergone cytoreductive surgery.
Material and Methods
We retrospectively evaluated the serum PAI‐1 level of EOC patients and healthy controls and investigated the correlation between both serum PAI‐1 levels of EOC patients we detected and clinicopathological characteristics. Survival rates were analyzed by using the Kaplan–Meier technique and Cox regression model.
Results
Serum PAI‐1 levels of EOC patients before the first cycle of chemotherapy and after the sixth cycle of chemotherapy were significantly higher than those of healthy controls (both P < 0.05). The results of Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated that both serum PAI‐1 levels of EOC patients were associated with progression‐free survival and overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed the PAI‐1 level before the first cycle of chemotherapy was an independent prognostic marker of progression‐free survival (28.4 vs 49.6 months; P = 0.013) and overall survival (41.8 vs 53.8 months; P = 0.043).
Conclusions
Both serum PAI‐1 levels of EOC patients we detected were associated with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, residual tumor size and lymph node metastasis. The serum PAI‐1 level before the first cycle of chemotherapy is an independent predictor for EOC patients.