ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gynecological Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1548889
RAD51 protein is a predictor of chemosensitivity and survival prognosis in patients with advanced high-grade serous ovarian cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy
Provisionally accepted- 1Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
- 2Department of Reproductive Medicine, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, Shandong Province, China
- 3Department of Gynecology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, qingdao, China
- 4Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology,Rizhao People's Hospital, rizhao, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: The primary aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the expression of RAD51 protein and the KELIM score in the context of NACT in patients with advanced HGSOC. Additionally, we explore the potential of RAD51 expression and the KELIM score as biomarkers of chemotherapy sensitivity. Methods: We selected a cohort of 43 patients with advanced HGSOC who underwent intermediate tumor cytoreductive surgery following NACT . Pathological tissue samples were collected from pre-chemotherapy and post-IDS ovarian cancer tissues, as well as from normal ovarian tissues of 12 control subjects. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate RAD51 protein expression. Concurrently, the KELIM score was calculated for NACT patients. PFS and OS were monitored, and the correlation between RAD51 expression, chemotherapy sensitivity, and survival outcomes was assessed. Furthermore, we analyzed the combined prognostic value of RAD51 expression and the KELIM score in predicting NACT sensitivity and prognosis in advanced HGSOC. Results: The expression rate of RAD51 protein in ovarian cancer tissues was significantly higher compared to normal ovarian tissues. Both RAD51 expression and the KELIM score were associated with the recurrence of platinum resistance after surgery. Patients with high RAD51 expression exhibited a higher recurrence rate of platinum resistance compared to those with low RAD51 expression. Similarly, patients with a KELIM score < 1 had a statistically significantly higher recurrence rate of platinum resistance than those with a KELIM score ≥ 1 . There was no significant statistical difference between the AUC of RAD51 expression for predicting platinum-resistant recurrence and that of the KELIM score . The AUC of the combination of RAD51 expression and the KELIM score showed an increasing trend compared with the KELIM score and RAD51 expression respectively, yet there was no statistical difference among the three. High RAD51 expression was associated with lower PFS and OS, indicating a poorer survival prognosis. Conclusion: RAD51 protein expression is closely related to the sensitivity of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced high-grade serous ovarian cancer. RAD51 protein expression offers a valuable tool for predicting chemotherapy sensitivity, platinum resistance recurrence, and survival outcomes in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.
Keywords: RAD51蛋白, KELIM评分, 高级别浆液性卵巢癌, 新辅助化疗, 化疗敏感性
Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Chen, Xia, Qi, Ji, Ji and Lou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yanhui Lou, louyh@qdu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.