Contribution of immunohistochemistry in prognostic assessment of epithelial ovarian carcinoma --review of the literature I.
Epithelial ovarian carcinoma is worldwide the sixth most common female cancer, and this malignancy carries the highest mortality among all gynecological cancers. The high mortality is due mostly to the fact that the tumor is frequently diagnosed late, in advanced stage, as the early disease is often asymptomatic and no effective screening methods are available. The most important prognostic factors in ovarian carcinoma are the stage, size of residual tumor following surgery, presence of ascites, age and the general condition of the patient, tumor histology, and, in patients with early disease, also the grade of the tumor. Large number of studies on prognostic and predictive factors in epithelial ovarian carcinoma has been published, often with contradictory results. The most intensely studied prognostic factors are those for expression of hormonal receptors, for tumor proliferation activity (mainly by antigen Ki-67 and topoisomerase IIalpha), the markers of apoptosis (p53, p21, mdm2, bcl-2 and other proteins), or other oncoproteins (particularly HER-2/neu).
Tomsová
Markéta
M
Fingerland Department of Pathology, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital in Hradec Krdlove, Czech Republic. tomsova@fnhk.cz
Melichar
Bohuslav
B
D017209:Apoptosis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor