Expression of A, B, and H blood group antigens in epithelial ovarian cancer: relationship to tumor grade and patient survival.

The expression of A, B, and H blood group antigens in epithelial ovarian cancer was evaluated in 137 patients with advanced disease by staining frozen sections with specific monoclonal antibodies using an indirect immunoperoxidase method. Expression of blood group antigens was observed in a proportion of ovarian carcinomas and in some areas of ovarian surface epithelium. Forty-eight percent of the tumors tested from 130 blood group A, B, or 0 individuals showed no expression of the appropriate blood group antigen, 32% had heterogeneous antigen expression, and 20% had strong expression. In the 7 blood group AB patients studied, no expression, heterogeneous expression of both antigens, or absence of one, but not the other antigen, was observed. No tumor showed A, B, or H antigen expression that was not compatible with the patient's blood group type. Histologic Grade 3 tumors showed absence of blood group antigen expression more often than did Grade 2 tumors. The presence or absence of A, B, or H antigen expression did not correlate with survival in this group of patients. This is in contrast to studies in other epithelial tumor types in which the normal epithelium synthesizes blood group antigens and loss of ABH antigen expression is observed in the corresponding tumors.