Serous carcinoma of ovary

Definition

A malignant ovarian epithelial neoplasm composed of cells resembling the lining of the Fallopian tube. It is thought that low-grade serous carcinomas arise by step-wise progression from benign through borderline to malignant tumours. High grade serous carcinomas are thought to arise de novo.

Epidemiology

Serous carcinoma is the commonest ovarian epithelial malignancy.

Immunohistochemistry

	Reference 1	Low grade serous carcinomas (22 cases)							High grade serous carcinomas (47 cases)						p value (statistical significance of the difference between low and high grade carcinomas)
	staining score   (0: negative or occasional cells staining, 1: <10% , 2: 10%-25%, 3: 26%-50%, 4: 51%-75%, 5: >75% of cells positive.)	0	1	2	3	4	5		0	1	2	3	4	5
	p53	5	6	3	2	2	4		9	4	0	2	2	30	0.005
	bcl-2	15	0	0	3	3	1		16	6	4	4	5	12	0.018
	Her-2	21	0	0	1	0	0		30	9	4	1	0	3	0.008
	c-kit	21	0	0	1	0	0		33	10	3	0	0	1	0.016
	WT1	0	0	0	1	2	19		0	0	0	0	1	46	0.189
	Osteopontin	1	2	2	2	15	0		4	4	1	5	29	4	0.595
	Survivin	0	0	0	0	0	22		0	0	0	0	1	46	0.494
	MIB1	mean index = 23%							mean index =55%						0.0005

Prognosis

Presentation is usually late, the tumour aggressive and the prognosis poor.

References

¹ O'Neill CJ, Deavers MT, Malpica A, et al. An immunohistochemical comparison between low-grade and high-grade ovarian serous carcinomas: significantly higher expression of p53, MIB1, BCL2, HER-2/neu, and C-KIT in high-grade neoplasms. Am J Surg Pathol 2005; 29:1034-41

This page last revised 7.11.2005.

©SMUHT/PW Bishop