Immunohistochemical characterization of ovarian borderline tumors of intestinal and mullerian types.

Abstract

A panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) including MOv2, MOv8, anti-CA 19-9, and anti-carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and a polyclonal antibody against CEA, was applied to three types of ovarian borderline tumors. The tumors included 19 intestinal-type mucinous borderline tumors (IMBTs), 22 endocervical-like mucinous borderline tumors (EMBTs), and 23 mixed-epithelial borderline tumors (MEBTs); the latter two tumors are of mullerian type. Statistically significant differences in the percentage of positive IMBTs compared to the mullerian tumors were seen for anti-CEA and MOv8; strikingly different staining patterns were also seen. IMBTs were more often and more diffusely CEA-positive than were the mullerian tumors; within the mullerian tumors, only one type of cell, the indifferent eosinophilic cell, was consistently CEA positive. The MAbs MOv2, MOv8, and anti-CA 19-9 showed more extensive positivity in the mullerian tumors than in the IMBTs. This study highlights the differences in cell types between IMBTs and these two types of mullerian borderline tumors.