Abstract:

Objective To explore the  expressions of osteopontin(OPN) in normal ovarian tissue,benign ovarian tumor tissue
 and epithelial ovarian carcinoma tissue,and to clarify the value of OPN as an indicator to  monitor the malignancy degree and evaluate the prognosis of  epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Methods The ovarian resection specimens of 100 cases were collected,including 20 cases of  normal ovarian tissue,20 cases of benign ovari
an tumor tissue and 60 cases  of epithelial ovarian carcinoma  tissue.Epithelial ovarian carcinoma including 30 cases of ovarian serous adenocarcinoma,20 case
s of ovarian mucinous cystadenocarcinoma and 10 cases of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma.According to the  differentiation degree,60 cases of epithlial ovarian carcinoma were  divided into 12 cases  well differentiated carcinoma (G1),16 cases of  moderately differentiated carcinoma (G2),
and 32 cases of poorly differentiated carcinoma (G3).According to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2000 primary ovarian cancer surgery - pathological staging criteria,60 cases of epithelial ovarian carcinoma including 30 cases of epithelial ovarian carcinoma at stage Ⅰ and  Ⅱ,and 30 cases of  epithelial ovarian carcinoma at stage Ⅲ and  Ⅳ.HE staining and immunohistochemical staining  were used to detect the OPN ex
pression.Results OPN  mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of cancer cells. The positive  expression rate  of OPN in 60 cases of epithelial ovarian carcinoma group was 75.0% which was  higher than those in normal ovarian group  and benign ovarian tumor group(P<0.01).With the increasing of clinical stage,the  positive expression rate of OPN was increased;the positive expression rate of OPN in poorly differentiated epithelial ovarian carcinoma group was  higher than that in well differentiated epithelial ovarian carcinoma group (P<0.01);the positive expression rates of OPN had no significant   differences  between different histological types of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (P> 0.05).Conclusion OPN may contribute to the occurrence, development,invasion, and metastasis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.OPN is of great significance for the clinical assessment of  diagnosis and metastasis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma,and it can be used as
an important indicator to  monitor the malignancy degree and evaluate the prognosis of  epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Key words: osteopontin, epithelial ovarian neoplasms, immunohistochemistry