Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2004 Nov;47(11):2149-2158.

Osteopontin expression on benign and malignant ovarian tumors

• Lim OR
• Won NH
• Kim HS
• Lee NW
• Lee KW

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To understand the expression pattern of osteopontin on various histologic types of ovarian tumors.
METHODS
We performed an immunohistochemical study on 90 paraffin embedded tissues including 80 ovarian epithelial tumors and 10 normal ovaries. We also performed a semiquantitative study of osteopontin mRNA on 12 fresh ovarian tumors, 2 normal ovaries and SKOV3 cell line. SAS 8.2 program was used for statistical analysis and Fisher's Extract test and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel Statistics for analysis of the relationship between expression of osteopontin and histologic types.
RESULTS
Among 55 carcinomas, over 50% of tumor cells expressed osteopontin in 14/14 clear cell, 11/ 12 endometrioid, 11/16 serous, and 5/15 mucinous types. The expression degrees were well correlated with the histologic types of carcinomas (p=0.002). Among 25 benign tumors, over 10% of tumor cells showed in 11/15 serous and 3/10 mucinous types (p=0.008). However, the degree of osteopontin expression was not related to the tumor grades or stages of ovarian cancer. Semiquantitative study for osteopontin mRNA showed 5-6 times higher in SKOV3 cell line as well as in serous adenocarcinomas, compared with the normal ovaries. However, there was no increase of osteopontin mRNA in benign or malignant mucinous tumors.
CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that the expression of osteopontin is not only present in ovarian cancers, but also in benign ovarian tumors.

Keyword

Osteopontin; Ovarian tumor

MeSH Terms

Adenocarcinoma
Cell Line
Female
Mucins
Osteopontin*
Ovarian Neoplasms
Ovary
Paraffin
RNA, Messenger
Mucins
Osteopontin
Paraffin
RNA, Messenger