Over-expression of keratin 18 in human endometrial cancer.
Gynecologic cancers including cancers of the endometrium are a clinical problem (1-4). We mined published and public microarray data (5, 6) to discover genes associated with endometrial cancers by comparing transcriptomes of the normal endometrium and endometrial tumors from humans. We identified keratin 18, encoded by KRT18, as among the most differentially expressed genes, transcriptome-wide, in cancers of the endometrium. KRT18 was expressed at significantly higher levels in endometrial tumor tissues as compared to the endometrium. Importantly, in human endometrial cancer, primary tumor expression of KRT18 was correlated with overall survival in white patients with high and low mutational burden. KRT18 may be a molecule of interest in understanding the etiology or progression of human endometrial cancer.