Immunological Peculiarities of CD-56-Positive Serous Ovarian Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Here we present the results of evaluation of the expression of neural cell adhesion molecules CD56 (NCAM) in serous ovarian adenocarcinoma. The expression was detected in 48.5% cases. Infiltration of tumor stroma and parenchyma with CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocytes was significantly less pronounced in tumors expressing neural cell adhesion molecules; CD3+CD4+CD25+ predominate among CD4+ lymphocytes in CD56+ tumors. CD56+ tumors were lower in size (5.2±0.6, 7.9±0.8 and 10.3±1.5 cm in monomorphic, mosaic, and negative phenotypes, respectively (p=0.05) and were characterized by the absence of cystic component (p=0.012), larger disseminations in the peritoneum (4.2±1.1 and 2.7±0.5 cm; p=0.05), and larger volume of the residual tumor (p=0.018) after surgical treatment. NCAM phenotype of the tumor does not correlate with the stage and differentiation degree of serous ovarian adenocarcinoma.

CD56 (Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule) Expression in Ovarian Carcinomas: Association With High-Grade and Advanced Stage But Not With Neuroendocrine Differentiation

“…Only a limited number of publications have addressed the expression of CD56/NCAM in ovarian carcinomas. 5,13,14,23,24 In the first study by Kaufmann et al, 7 of 28 ovarian carcinomas labeled for CD56 (25%), but other markers of NE differentiation were not investigated. Veras et al 23 15 NCAM was detected in 23,8% of 252 ovarian carcinomas and 34,5% of 206 the metastases, but was not expressed on normal ovarian surface epithelium.…”

Potential Tumor Biomarkers for Ovarian Cancer

“…The reappearance of polysialylated NCAM has been observed in some forms of cancer, such as malignant neuroblastomas and rhabdomyosarcomas (Daniel et al, 2001;Fukuda, 1996;Gluer et al, 1998a;Gluer et al, 1998b;Jensen and Berthold, 2007) and correlates with increased metastatic potential and poor clinical outcome (Seidenfaden et al, 2003). Recently, NCAM expression has been studied in serous ovarian tumors and found to correlate with greater peritoneal dissemination and larger tumor volume following surgical debulking (Zueva et al, 2010). Sialylation status of NCAM in ovarian cancer is yet to be deciphered.…”