Determination of the expression profile of ninjurin-1 involved in pyroptosis in ovarian cancer patients

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies in women and is associated with high mortality rates due to its frequent diagnosis at advanced stages. In recent years, research on programmed cell death mechanisms has contributed to a deeper understanding of molecules involved in tumor development and progression. Pyroptosis, an inflammation-associated form of programmed lytic cell death, is characterized by osmotic swelling/ballooning and eventual rupture of the plasma membrane, mediated by pore-forming proteins of the gasdermin family. In the final stage of Ninjurin 1-dependent lysis, Ninjurin-1 acts as a key molecule governing membrane rupture. Due to its association with tumor development, inflammation, cell lysis, and immune microenvironment regulation, the expression levels of this gene have emerged as an intriguing topic in cancer biology. In this thesis, the mRNA and protein expression levels of the Ninjurin-1 were examined in ovarian cancer tissue and blood samples across different histological subtypes and compared with normal controls. In the tissue-based analysis, no statistically significant difference was observed in Ninjurin-1 expression levels between normal and tumor groups or among histological subtypes. However, analyses performed in blood samples revealed significantly elevated Ninjurin-1 expression particularly in the endometrioid subtype, with a noticeable increase also observed in the serous subtype compared to normal controls. Western blot analysis demonstrated elevated protein levels of Ninjurin-1 in serous and endometrioid tumor tissues relative to normal tissues, although this increase did not reach statistical significance. Additionally, we found that NINJ1 mRNA levels were upregulated in patients who had undergone chemotherapy. These findings suggest that Ninjurin-1 may represent a potential circulating biomarker that could be targeted in the diagnosis and monitoring of ovarian cancer. Further molecular studies conducted in larger patient cohorts are expected to contribute to both diagnosis and histological subtype differentiation of the disease.