BLOOD-BRAIN-BARRIER IMMUNOPHENOTYPE OF MICROVESSELS WITHIN NEUROECTODERMAL TISSUE IN MATURE OVARIAN TERATOMAS

Neuroectodermal tissue in mature ovarian teratomas share morphological and developmental properties with the central nervous system (CNS). G lucose transporter protein 1 (GLUT-1), localized to the membrane of im mature neuroepithelial cells, becomes restricted to endothelial cells lining the microvasculature early in brain development, and is a well- recognized marker of blood-brain barrier phenotype. Glial fibrillary a cidic protein (GFAP) is expressed by neuroectodermal cells committed t o glial differentiation. In embryonal development, GFAP expression occ urs concomitantly with GLUT-1 localization to the vascular endothelium . To assess the distribution of GLUT-1 in areas of neuroectodermal dif ferentiation of mature ovarian teratomas, 10 of 30 such cases selected by the presence of GFAP-positive tissue, were stained with an antibod y against GLUT-1. Positive microvessels were seen in all cases. Larger vessels within GFAP-positive tissue and vessels outside the neuroecto dermal tissue were GLUT-1 negative. There was no membrane staining wit h GLUT-1 of committed, GFAP-positive teratomatous neuroectodermal cell s, whereas the reverse was true in two cases of immature ovarian terat omas. These results indicate that (a) the development of the neuroecto dermal microvasculature within teratomas parallels that of normal CNS tissue, and (b) GLUT-1 localization may be a marker of maturity of neu roectodermal elements in ovarian teratomas.