abstract
- Metallothioneins (MTs) are low molecular weight proteins that control cell proliferation via their metalloregulatory function. Several studies in various tumors have shown their influence in determining response to chemotherapy and prognosis. Because there has been no such study pertaining to ovarian tumors, we investigated MT expression and nuclear size in mucinous ovarian neoplasms (12 benign, 6 borderline, and 8 malignant). The percentage of MT-positive stained cells was significantly higher in the borderline than in the benign tumors, but lower than in the malignant tumors. Single layers of cells in the borderline tumors showed mild immunostaining in 50% of the cells and moderate staining in the remaining 50%, while 83.3% of cells within multilayered epithelium showed moderate to strong immunostaining. In the carcinomas, 87.5% of tumors showed moderate to strong staining in single-layered epithelium and moderate to strong staining of all the cells in multilayered epithelium. Morphometry measurements showed that the mean nuclear area of cells in the carcinomas was significantly larger than in the borderline or benign tumors. The nuclear area of cells in the carcinomas with early recurrence or metastasis was also significantly larger than in carcinomas without recurrence or metastasis. It is concluded that MT protein expression and nuclear size are possible markers for the evaluation of the progression of malignancy in mucinous ovarian tumors.