Serous papillary adenocarcinoma possibly related to the presence of primitive oocyte-like cells in the adult ovarian surface epithelium: a case report

Journal of Ovarian Research

Jasna Sinkovec¹  Martin Stimpfel¹  Branko Cvjeticanin¹  Thomas Skutella²  Irma Virant-Klun¹ 

[1] Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia;Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

关键词: serous adenocarcinoma;    ovarian surface epithelium;    oocytes;    human;   

Others  :  824489
DOI  :  10.1186/1757-2215-4-13

 received in 2011-06-08, accepted in 2011-08-09,  发布年份 2011

【 摘 要 】

Introduction

The presence of oocytes in the ovarian surface epithelium has already been confirmed in the fetal ovaries. We report the presence of SSEA-4, SOX-2, VASA and ZP2-positive primitive oocyte-like cells in the adult ovarian surface epithelium of a patient with serous papillary adenocarcinoma.

Case presentation

Ovarian tissue was surgically retrieved from a 67-year old patient. Histological analysis revealed serous papillary adenocarcinoma. A proportion of ovarian cortex sections was deparaffinized and immunohistochemically stained for the expression of markers of pluripotency SSEA-4 and SOX-2 and oocyte-specific markers VASA and ZP2. The analysis confirmed the presence of round, SSEA-4, SOX-2, VASA and ZP2-positive primitive oocyte-like cells in the ovarian surface epithelium. These cells were possibly related to the necrotic malignant tissue.

Conclusion

Primitive oocyte-like cells present in the adult ovarian surface epithelium persisting probably from the fetal period of life or developed from putative stem cells are a pathological condition which is not observed in healthy adult ovaries, and might be related to serous papillary adenocarcinoma manifestation in the adult ovarian surface epithelium. This observation needs attention to be further investigated.

【 授权许可】

   
2011 Virant-Klun et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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