20.500.12556/RUL-187556 AKR1B1 and AKR1B10 as potential prognostic biomarkers of endometrial cancer Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological malignancy with rising incidence, yet reliable non-invasive prognostic biomarkers for preoperative risk stratification and treatment guidance are needed. This pilot study investigated whether plasma levels of aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B1 (AKR1B1) and aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B10 (AKR1B10) could serve as non-invasive prognostic biomarkers in EC. Plasma samples were collected preoperatively from 78 postmenopausal women with histologically confirmed EC alongside clinicopathological data including histological grade, depth of myometrial invasion, lymphovascular invasion, and metastatic status. AKR1B1 and AKR1B10 protein levels were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in 72 and 64 plasma samples, respectively, and data were analyzed using R v4.3.0. Plasma AKR1B10 levels were significantly higher in Grade 3 compared to Grade 1–2 EC patients; and should be considered with caution given the limited Grade 3 sample size. A model combining both AKR1B1 and AKR1B10 with clinical variables (BMI, age, smoking, parity, hormone replacement therapy, previous use of contraceptives) showed limited discriminative ability for preoperative lymphovascular invasion prediction and is not suitable for clinical use in its current form. Survival analysis revealed that patients with plasma levels of both AKR1B1 and AKR1B10 below the median showed significantly better overall (p = 0.04, hazard ratio (HR) = 0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.10–1.01) and recurrence-free survival (p = 0.005, HR = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.02–0.49) compared to the remainder of the cohort. These preliminary, hypothesis-generating findings suggest the potential of circulating AKR1B proteins as candidate prognostic biomarkers in EC, requiring prospective validation in larger cohorts. endometrial carcinoma plasma biomarkers aldo-keto reductase lymphovascular invasion overall survival recurrence-free survival karcinom endometrija preživetje imunohistokemija karcinom endometrija rak maternične sluznice biološki označevalci v krvni plazmi aldo-keto reduktaza limfovaskularna invazija celokupno preživetje preživetje brez ponovitve bolezni true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-09-11 09:49:47 2026-09-11 09:49:53 2026-09-16 10:32:56 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 17 str. iss. 17, art. 7639 Vol. 27 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 616-006 1422-0067 10.3390/ijms27177639 290762755 RAZ_Pusic_Novak_Maja_2026.pdf RAZ_Pusic_Novak_Maja_2026.pdf 1 FE3E801F7B418D96CBE8ADCC52685AF5 6a52542e040f5b3b63b72d635d48104fc91818d8bbd4e2989f8942dfb4920347 8b49176a-adb6-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=247229 https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/17/7639 1 5ae99bfd-adb5-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=247228 Medicinska fakulteta 0 0 0