Immunohistochemical Characterization of Normal Ovary and Common Epithelial Ovarian Neoplasm with a Monoclonal Antibody to Cytokeratin and Vimentin

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The common epithelial ovarian tumors are classified into serous, mucinous, clear cell, endometrioid, the Brenner, mixed, and undifferentiated types. Cytoskeleton intermediate filament composition of ovarian tissues indicates that the cytokeratin and vimentin are observed in ovarian surface epithelium along with the common ovarian epithelial tumors. The current study aimed at investigating the cytokeratin and vimentin expression in epithelial ovarian tumors to establish a diagnostic relevance. METHODS: Sixty-six common epithelial ovarian tumors were studied using anti-cytokeratins (Monoclonal Mouse Anti-Human Cytokeratin Clones AE1/AE3; DAKO, Denmark,) and anti-vimentin (Monoclonal Mouse Anti-Vimentin, Clone V9; DAKO, Denmark,) to ascertain the intermediate filament profiles in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded surgical pathology materials. RESULTS: All ovarian epithelial tumors expressed cytokeratin in a uniform fashion. Vimentin was coexpressed with high intensity in 62.5% of serous carcinomas, mild intensity in 25% of mucinous adenocarcinoma, and moderate intensity in single case of endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Vimentin decoration in mucinous carcinoma had a focal involvement, whereas malignant endometrioid and serous decoration tended to involve larger areas. There was a significantly increased expression of vimentin in serous cystadenoma and serous carcinoma, compared with their mucinous counterparts. Also, vimentin expression and histologic grade of serous tumors showed a positive correlation. No association was found between vimentin expression and degree of differentiation in mucinous, endometrioid, and Brenner tumors. CONCLUSION: The current investigation emphasized the efficiency of immunohistochemistry (IHC) typing as a tool for a more precise characterization of the origin and differentiation of human neoplasms.