Oestrogen Receptor, Progesterone Receptor Expression on Epithelial Tumours of Ovary and Correlation with Their Clinicopathological Features

Abstract

BACKGROUND Ovarian carcinoma is one of the most lethal malignancies. Their histogenesis and complex pathogenesis remain largely unknown in spite of the many studies and research carried out in the field. The receptors for female sex hormones are implicated in the pathogenesis of ovarian tumours in many studies. This concept points out the necessity of developing a highly affected targeted therapy, which requires a proper understanding of the pathogenesis of the tumours. This study was done to evaluate the expression of these receptors on the primary epithelial tumours of the ovary and explore the possible correlation with clinical and pathological features. METHODS A hundred cases of primary epithelial tumours of the ovary were selected; tissue samples were taken from appropriate areas and processed. Tissues were cut into sections of three to five-micron thickness. Sections from the tissues were stained and examined. Once the histological type was clear, the receptor expression was assessed with immunohistochemistry markers. RESULTS Among the hundred tumours studied, serous tumours were the commonest, accounting for 65 % followed by mucinous tumours which constituted 34 %. Clear cell tumours accounted for 1 %. Endometrioid and transitional cell tumours were still rarer. Among these, oestrogen receptor (ER) was expressed in 78.5 % of serous tumours and progesterone receptor (PR) was expressed in 64.6 % of serous tumours. CONCLUSIONS Serous tumours were seen to show maximum expression of the hormone receptors among the surface tumours of ovaries. Furthermore, the expression of the receptors was more consistently seen in high-grade tumours. This finding may be of help in designing personalized hormone therapy in epithelial tumours. KEY WORDS Surface Epithelial Tumours, Receptors, ER, PR.