Gestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary diagnosed by analysis of tumour DNA

• Published in: Cancer letters Vol. 104; no. 1; pp. 27 - 30
• Main Authors: Lorigan, P.C., Grierson, A.J., Goepel, J.R., Coleman, R.E., Goyns, M.H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 24.06.1996; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Alleles; Allelic heterozygosity; Biological and medical sciences; Choriocarcinoma; Choriocarcinoma - diagnosis; Choriocarcinoma - genetics; DNA, Neoplasm - analysis; DNA, Neoplasm - genetics; Female; Female genital diseases; Gestational; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Heterozygote; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Ovarian Neoplasms - diagnosis; Ovarian Neoplasms - genetics; Polymorphism, Genetic; Pregnancy; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; Tumors; Choriocarcinoma; Gestational; Allelic heterozygosity; Human; Trophoblaste pathology; Pregnancy disorders; Malignant tumor; Female genital diseases; Case study; Pregnancy; Ovarian diseases; Ovary; Histopathology; DNA; Chorioepithelioma; Diagnosis
• ISSN: 0304-3835; 1872-7980
• DOI: 10.1016/0304-3835(96)04219-X

Gestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary is a rare form of malignancy which can be difficult to distinguish from primary ovarian choriocarcinoma. The ability to make such a diagnosis could, however, have important implications for therapy. We report here a case of choriocarcinoma whose origins were difficult to determine and which behaved clinically more like a primary rather than a gestational choriocarcinoma. We have analysed DNA from this tumour by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a range of polymorphic alleles and have demonstrated that the tumour was in fact gestational. Furthermore, the lack of chromosome Y sequences and the presence of heterozygosity of the spouse's alleles, indicated that this tumour arose as a result of dispermic fertilisation of an empty ovum by sperm carrying the X chromosome.