Immunohistochemical phenotype of fallopian tubes in patients with different grades of serous ovarian carcinoma

During recent years, there is an accumulating evidence that high grade ovarian carcinoma is developed from the fallopian tube epithelial lesions. However, is not yet completely understood and still represents the subject of investigation. We investigated the immunohistochemical phenotype of matched fallopian tubes from the patients with different types and malignancy grades of ovarian carcinoma. Matched fallopian tubes from ovarian cancer patients were available in 260 cases, including mucinous borderline tumor (n=25), mucinous carcinoma (n=15), serous borderline tumor (n=90), low grade serous carcinoma (n=72) and high grade serous carcinoma (n=48). Immunohistochemical investigation included markers of proliferation (Ki67), apoptosis (Bcl2, p53), hormone receptors (ER, PR), epithelial differentiation (CK7), mesenchymal differentiation (vimentin, calretinin) and stem cells (CD44). The results indicate that the presence of fallopian tube carcinoma in situ is significantly correlated with the presence of high grade ovarian serous carcinoma (r=0.44, p<0.001), whilst there was no significant association with low grade and borderline serous tumors or mucinous tumors.