Rf. Caduff et al., COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF HISTOLOGIC HOMOLOGS OF ENDOMETRIAL AND OVARIAN-CARCINOMA, The American journal of surgical pathology, 22(3), 1998, pp. 319-326
We compared molecular alterations in histologically homologous ovarian
and uterine carcinomas, including the prevalence of allelic loss of m
arkers on 17q (within and distal to the familial breast-ovarian cancer
gene BRCA1), mutations of codon 12 of Ki-ras and immunohistochemical
expression of the p53 and c-erbB2 gene products in endometrioid and pa
pillary serous carcinomas occurring in the uterus and ovary. A total o
f 86 uterine and 28 ovarian endometrioid carcinomas, as well as 8 uter
ine and 26 ovarian papillary serous carcinomas, were evaluated. The pr
evalence of p53 gene product immunoreactivity was similar in papillary
serous carcinomas occurring in the uterus (6 of 8, 75%) and ovary (16
of 26, 62%). Allelic loss on 17q also was seen in similarly high prop
ortions of uterine (3 of 7, 43%) and ovarian (16 of 25, 64%) papillary
serous carcinomas. In contrast, expression of the p53 gene product wa
s seen in significantly more endometrioid tumors of the ovary (14 of 2
8, 50%) than in those occurring in the uterus (4 of 86, 5%) (p < 0.000
1). Allelic loss on 17q also was present in significantly more ovarian
(19 or 27, 70% than in uterine (2 of 72, 3%) endometrioid carcinomas
(p < 0.0001). Immunohistochemical expression of c-erbB2 and mutations
of codon 12 of Ki-ms were present in a minority of carcinomas. Endomet
rioid tumors of the ovary and endometrium, although histologically sim
ilar, may arise from different genetic events, whereas uterine papilla
ry serous carcinoma shares with its ovarian counterpart several molecu
lar alterations that may account for its aggressive clinical behavior.