Immunohistochemical characterization of undifferentiated carcinomas of the ovary

Abstract

Immunohistochemical characteristics of undifferentiated carcinomas of the ovary were examined using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues with an avidin-biotin staining approach. Eight cases were collected from the pathology files of our Institute from a total of 214 recorded malignant ovarian tumors. For immunostaining, antibodies reacting with epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), pankeratin, vimentin, CA 125, CA 19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), alpha-1-antitrypsin (AT), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), c-erbB-2, bcl-2 and p53 proteins were used. All the cases examined were positive for EMA and pankeratin, specific markers for epithelial tumors, negative for the non-epithelial tumor marker, vimentin, and also positive for EGFR. Interestingly, only one case was positive for CA 125, despite it being one of the commonest reported indicators of ovarian cancer. CA 19-9 was positive in 7 cases, CEA in 5, AFP in 2, AT in 6 and c-erbB-2 protein in 4. Two cases were positive for p53 protein, and in 1 of these positive staining for bcl-2 was also observed. These results indicate that the epithelial nature is well preserved in undifferentiated ovarian carcinomas, although consistently positive reactions were not observed within the cases for some antigens. They further clearly show that a negative signal for CA 125 can not be considered to exclude the possibility of a primary ovarian tumor.

Prognostic significance of apoptosis and associated factors in oral squamous cell carcinoma

“…Bcl-2 is known to preserve cells from p53-induced apoptosis and has been found increased in many tumour entities [2,9,24,26,34,36]. The mechanism leading to bcl-2 over-expression in cells lacking the 14;18-translocation of the bcl-2 gene is still unknown.…”

“…The bcl-2 gene located regularly at 18q21 is moved into juxtaposition with powerful enhancer elements in the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus at 14q32, with the result of overproduction of bcl-2 mRNAs and their encoded proteins [28]. However, increased bcl-2 expression has also been reported in epithelial malignancies, such as carcinomas of the lung [34], thyroid [36], breast [9], ovaries [24] and gastric [26] as well as colorectal adenocarcinomas [2]. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of apoptosis, considering these regulation pathways in primary squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the oral cavity and the oropharynx including their corresponding lymph-node metastases.…”

Targeting BCL2-Proteins for the Treatment of Solid Tumours

“…Evidence that BCL2 may have oncogenic potential in carcinoma was first provided in prostate cancer, where high expression of BCL2 was found in androgen-independent tumours [ 31 ]. Since then, high BCL2 expression has been reported in many different tumour types including lung cancer [ 32 , 33 ], ovary cancer [ 34 ], and breast cancer [ 35 ]. The function of BCL2 in inhibiting apoptosis has been proven in many independent studies, for example, by overexpression or knockdown [ 36 ].…”

Expression of bcl-2 oncoprotein in transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract

“…Recent studies have revealed a close relationship between the immunoreactivity for bcl-2 oncoprotein and the clinicopathological findings and clinical outcome in a variety of lymphomas [22] and epithelial malignancies, including carcinomas of the lung [25], thyroid [30], breast [4], stomach [17], and ovary [15]. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the expression of bcl-2 oncoprotein in cells without t (14:18) is still unknown.…”