Abstract
Objective : IMP3 is known as the oncofetal protein, which is recently known as an useful marker of serous adenocarcinoma in the female genital organs. However, there are no reports cytological materials on IMP3 expression in the female genital organs. In this article, we investigated the immunocytochemistry using cytological materials.
Study Design : We immunocytochemically, examined the expression of ER, PgR, IMP3 and p16 on five cases of serous adenocarcinoma and four cases of endometrioid adenocarcinoma using celomic fluid and endometrium samples.
Results : In all cases of serous adenocarcinoma, the cytoplasm of tumor cells was diffusely positive for IMP3, but tumor cells in all cases of endometrioid adenocarcinoma were negative. PgR was expressed in nuclei of all cases of serous and endometrioid adenocarcinoma, whereas ER showed nuclear positivity in one tumor of serous adenocarcinoma and four tumors of endometrioid adenocarcinoma.
Conclusion : IMP3 is also an useful marker in suspecting serous adenocarcinoma in cytological materials as well as histological specimens. Additionally, we suggested that the combination of IMP3 and p16 might be of use in the distinction between serous and endometrioid adenocarcinoma.
