• Serra Akar, İsmail Harmankaya, Serdar Uğraş, and Çetin Çelik.
• Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey
• Turk J Med Sci. 2019 Oct 24; 49 (5): 154715541547-1554.

Background/AimNicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) is an enzyme that is overexpressed in malignancies. NNMT expression has not been previously studied in endometrial cancer (EC). Increased phospho-Akt (pAkt) levels in response to NNMT overexpression have been reported in in vitro studies of different cancer types. We assayed NNMT expression in primary and metastatic high-grade EC and investigated the relationship of NNMT with p53, pAkt, and survival.Materials And MethodsNNMT, pAkt, and p53 expressions were assayed in 100 tissue samples of benign endometria, primary EC, and metastatic EC by immunohistochemistry.ResultsThe NNMT immunoreactivity score was significantly higher in primary high-grade EC than benign endometrial tissue (P = 0.001). NNMT expression in metastatic tissue was significantly higher than in primary cancer (P < 0.001). Metastatic stromal NNMT expression was significantly higher than that of the adjacent tumor and stroma adjacent to the primary tumor. p53 expression in the primary tumor showed a significant positive correlation with omental NNMT and pAkt expression. NNMT expression was also correlated with pAkt expression in metastatic tissue. NNMT overexpression in metastatic tissue was associated with decreased survival (P = 0.039).ConclusionThis study suggests that NNMT may promote cancer progression and that NNMT overexpression is associated with aberrant p53 expression, pAkt, and poor survival. NNMT’s role in cancer progression could make it a target of EC therapy.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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