Tissue expression of CA 125 in benign and malignant lesions of ovary and fallopian tube: a comparison with CA 19-9 and CEA.

Sections of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of 11 normal ovaries and tubes, 13 tubo-ovarian abscesses, 3 tubal carcinomas, and 115 ovarian tumors were investigated by immunohistochemistry. CA 125 and CA 19-9 were demonstrated with monoclonal antibodies, CEA with polyclonal antibodies. The tissue expression was visualized by the avidin-biotin method. In the germinal epithelium of all ovaries no tumor marker was confirmed. In 4 out of 11 tubes the epithelium was CA 125 positive, in 2 out of 11 cases CA 19-9 positive. Nine out of 13 tubo-ovarian abscesses were CA 125 and 5 out of 13 were CA 19-9 positive in their epithelium. Elevated serum levels of these markers might be due to expression via the epithelial cell of the inflamed tube. All normal and inflammatory adnexal tissues were CEA negative. In serous tumors and undifferentiated carcinomas, CA 125 was most frequently confirmed (85 and 70%, respectively). All mucinous tumors were CA 125 negative. The most frequently confirmed tumor marker was CA 19-9 (77%). In endometrioid tumors, CEA was most frequent (44%). In 42% of the borderline tumors and carcinomas only one marker was demonstrated, in 7% none. Here, immunohistochemistry may indicate the most adequate marker. Tumor marker expression was markedly heterogenous: tumor areas with strong, weak, and no reaction were adjacent. The tumor markers revealed no specificity for malignancy or disease.