Survival of women with ovarian carcinomas and borderline tumors is not affected by estrogen and progesterone receptor status

• Published in: Journal of gynecologic oncology Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 167 - 176
• Main Authors: Sallum, Luis Felipe, Sarian, Luis Otavio, Lucci De Angelo Andrade, Liliana, Vassallo, José, Soares, Fernando Augusto, Pinto, Glauce Aparecida, Ferreira, Patrícia Andréia, Derchain, Sophie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology; Korean Society of Gynecologic Oncology 01.04.2013; 대한부인종양학회
• Subjects: Original; 산부인과학; Immunohistochemistry; Estrogen receptor; Tissue microarray; Ovarian carcinoma; Borderline ovarian tumor; Progesterone receptor
• ISSN: 2005-0380; 2005-0399
• DOI: 10.3802/jgo.2013.24.2.167

To examine the patterns of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression in borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) and ovarian carcinomas. We also assessed the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in women with ovarian carcinoma, in relation to ER and/or PR expression. We examined ER/PR expression in 38 BOTs and 172 ovarian carcinomas removed from patients treated at the State University of Campinas-UNICAMP (Brazil), from 1993 to 2008 and followed for up to 60 months using tissue microarray-based immunohistochemistry. Twenty-eight (73.7%) mucinous and 10 (26.3%) serous BOTs were included. Ovarian carcinomas consisted mainly of 79 (46.0%) serous, 44 (25.5%) mucinous, 17 (9.8%) endometrioid, 10 (5.8%) clear-cell types. There was no significant difference of the ER/PR expression between BOT and ovarian carcinoma (p=0.55 for ER alone, 0.90 for PR alone, and 0.12 for combined expression). The level of ER/PR expression in BOTs was significantly higher in serous than in mucinous tumors (p<0.01). In carcinomas, ER/PR was higher in serous tumors than in mucinous (p<0.01) and clear cell tumors (p=0.02), and higher in endometrioid tumors than in mucinous tumors (p<0.01). DFS was affected neither by the clinical characteristics nor by combined steroid receptor status. OS was found to be significantly worse (p<0.01) only in women with stages II-IV tumors and those with residual disease after surgery (p<0.01). Overall, serous and endometrioid tumors were predominantly ER/PR positive, whereas mucinous and clear-cell tumors were preponderantly ER/PR negative. DFS and OS were not affected by ER/PR expression.