BACKGROUND: IMP2 and IMP3 are mRNA binding proteins involved in carcinogenesis. We examined a large cohort of ovarian tumors with the aim to assess the value of IMP2 and IMP3 for differential diagnosis, and to assess their prognostic significance. METHODS: Immunohistochemical analyses with antibodies against IMP2 and IMP3 were performed on 554 primary ovarian tumors including 114 high grade serous carcinomas, 100 low grade serous carcinomas, 124 clear cell carcinomas, 54 endometrioid carcinomas, 34 mucinous carcinomas, 75 mucinous borderline tumors, and 41 serous borderline tumors (micropapillary variant). The associations of overall positivity with clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated using the chi-squared test or Fisher's Exact test. RESULTS: We found IMP2 expression (in more than 5% of tumor cells) in nearly all cases of all tumor types, so the prognostic meaning could not be analyzed. The positive IMP3 expression (in more than 5% of tumor cells) was most common in mucinous carcinomas (82%) and mucinous borderline tumors (81%), followed by high grade serous (67%) and clear cell carcinomas (67%). The expression was less frequent in endometrioid carcinomas (39%), low grade serous carcinomas (23%), and micropapillary variant of serous borderline tumors (20%). Prognostic significance of IMP3 could be evaluated only in low grade serous carcinomas in the case of relapse-free survival, where negative cases showed better RFS (p = 0.033). CONCLUSION: Concerning differential diagnosis our results imply that despite the differences in expression in the different ovarian tumor types, the practical value for diagnostic purposes is limited. Contrary to other solid tumors, we did not find prognostic significance of IMP3 in ovarian cancer, with the exception of RFS in low grade serous carcinomas. However, the high expression of IMP2 and IMP3 could be of predictive value in ovarian carcinomas since IMP proteins are potential therapeutical targets.

Department of Cellular Pathology Barts Health NHS Trust and Blizard Institute of Core Pathology Queen Mary University of London London UK

Department of Oncological Pathology Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute Brno Czech Republic

Department of Pathology 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University University Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady 10034 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University and Motol University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Thomayer University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Department of Pathology Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Belfast UK

Department of Pathology Faculty of Medicine University of Debrecen Debrecen 4032 Hungary

Department of Pathology Hospital Graz 2 Graz Austria and Johannes Kepler University Linz Linz Austria

Department of Pathology University Hospital Brno and Medical Faculty Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Department of Pathology University of California San Diego San Diego CA USA

Department of Pathology University of Medicine Pharmacy Sciences and Technology of Targu Mures Târgu Mureș Romania

Gynecologic Oncology Center Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University and General University Hospital 12000 Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Pathology 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University and General University Hospital Prague Studničkova 2 12800 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Šikl's Department of Pathology The Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital in Pilsen Charles University Pilsen Czech Republic

The Fingerland Department of Pathology Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové and University Hospital Hradec Králové Hradec Králové Czech Republic

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