Immunohistochemical evaluation of a new epithelial antigen, Ber-EP4, in ovarian cancer: preliminary results

OBJECTIVE: To assess the immunohistochemical expression of Ber-EP4, a new epithelial antigen in ovarian cancer. METHODS: We studied 25 cases of ovarian cancer in which Ber-EP4, CEA and CA 125 were investigated by an immunohistochemical method. We evaluated the correlations between immunohistochemical positivity and grading, histotype and stage of disease. RESULTS: CEA was positive in 5 out of 25 cases (20%), CA-125 in 17 out of 25 cases (68%) and Ber-EP4 in 14 out of 25 cases (56%). Ber-EP4 was mainly present in mucinous tumors in comparison to serous tumors (78.6% vs. 50%). Ber-EP4, as well as CA-125, were directly proportional to tumor differentation (70% of positivity in G1 vs 37.5% in G3 for the former and 80% in G1 vs 50% in G3 for the latter, respectively), whereas CEA showed no relevant difference regarding the grading. There were no differences among the three antigens studied with regard to clinical stage. CONCLUSIONS: In our study Ber-EP4 was positive in 14 out of 22 cases (63.6%) of the primary epithelial ovarian cancers studied. The presence of this antigen seems to be related to histotype and grading but not to clinical stage.