Objective To analyze the expression and clinical significance of cytoskeleton-associated protein 2-like protein (CKAP2L) in ovarian cancer.

Methods From February 2018 to May 2020, 87 ovarian cancer patients who underwent radical surgery for ovarian cancer at Taiyuan Central Hospital were selected, and their ovarian cancer tissue and paracancer tissue > 2 cm from the edge of the cancer lesion were collected. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method was applied to determine the mRNA expression of CKAP2L in ovarian cancer tissue and paracancer tissues, immunohistochemical methods were applied to analyze the protein expression of CKAP2L in ovarian cancer tissue and paracancer tissues. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to analyze the relationship between CKAP2L expression and patient prognosis in ovarian cancer tissue.

Results The mRNA expression of CKAP2L in ovarian cancer tissue was higher than that in paracancer tissues (P<0.05). The positive expression rate of CKAP2L protein in ovarian cancer tissue was higher than that in paracancer tissues (P<0.05). The expression of CKAP2L mRNA in ovarian cancer tissue was related to the degree of tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, FIGO staging, and depth of invasion in patients (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis results indicated that the 3-year overall survival rate of ovarian cancer patients was 80.46%; the 3-year overall survival rate of CKAP2L low expression patients was higher than that of CKAP2L high expression patients (Log-rank χ²=8.316, P=0.004). The 3-year recurrence-free survival rate of patients was 77.01%; the 3-year recurrence-free survival rate of CKAP2L low expression patients was higher than that of CKAP2L high expression patients (Log-rank χ²=8.921, P=0.003).

Conclusions CKAP2L is highly expressed in ovarian cancer tissue and is related to FIGO staging, lymph node metastasis, etc. It is a risk factor for death in ovarian cancer patients.