title: Diagnostic Utility of Thyroid Transcription Factor-1 in Ovarian Carcinoma and Its Relationship With Clinicopathologic Prognostic Parameters.
abstract: Although thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) is considered a relatively sensitive and specific marker for lung and thyroid neoplasms, it can occasionally be expressed in other tumors. Few immunohistochemical studies have been conducted on TTF-1 expression in ovarian carcinomas with discrepant results. To date, only 1 study compared different TTF-1 clones in ovarian carcinoma. This study is designed to evaluate the expression of TTF-1 clones in ovarian carcinomas and investigate TTF-1 association with clinicopathologic prognostic parameters. A retrospective immunohistochemical study was conducted on 62 primary ovarian carcinomas and 15 normal ovarian tissues using 2 clones of TTF-1 antibody (SPT24 and 8G7G3/1). Nuclear expression of SPT24 and 8G7G3/1 clones of TTF-1 was detected in 17.7% and 3.2% of ovarian carcinomas, respectively. Positive cytoplasmic immunostaining of clone SPT24 was detected in 1.6% of cases. In contrast, normal ovarian tissue showed negative expression of both clones. A highly significant difference was observed between both clones regarding their sensitivity in ovarian carcinomas (P=0.004). A significant inverse relationship was observed between TTF-1 (SPT24 clone) expression and tumor stage (P=0.022). TTF-1 expression is not exclusive to lung and thyroid tissue. It is expressed in ovarian carcinomas where clone SPT24 is more sensitive than clone 8G7G3/1. TTF-1 might be of diagnostic utility in evaluating neoplasms of unknown primary origin as well as adenocarcinomas involving the lung in patients with a history of a gynecologic malignancy. Moreover, TTF-1 expression might be a good prognostic factor in ovarian carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hakim
authors.forename: Nermeen S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Youssef
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000074482:Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000074482:Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1