Co-expression of CD147/EMMPRIN with monocarboxylate transporters and multiple drug resistance proteins is associated with epithelial ovarian cancer progression

Cancer metastasis and anti-cancer drug resistance are the major reason for the failure of clinical cancer treatment. We evaluated CD147, monocarboxylate transporters (MCT1 and MCT4), and multidrug resistance (MDR) markers (MDR1 and MRP2) in 4 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines and primary tumors (n = 120) along with the matched metastatic lesions (n = 40) with immunofluorescence labeling. We correlated CD147 with MCT1, MCT4, MDR1 and MRP2 markers in primary and metastatic cells in cell lines and tissues using confocal microscopy. We also investigated the relationship of expression of CD147, MCT1 and MCT4 with various progression parameters. Our results indicate that the co-expression of CD147 with MCTs or MDR markers was found in primary and metastatic EOC cells and stromal cells; the over-expression of CD147, MCT1 and MCT4 was found in most primary and the matched metastatic lesions of EOC, and was significantly associated with tumor stage, grade, residual disease status and presence of ascites (P < 0.05) but not with histology type (P > 0.05). These results suggest that over-expression of CD147, MCT1 and MCT4 is correlated with EOC progression, and co-expression of CD147 and MCT1/MCT4 is related to drug resistance during EOC metastasis and could be useful therapeutic targets to prevent the development of incurable, recurrent and drug resistance EOC.