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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma (M-LAC) is a rare, recently described tumor occurring in the uterine corpus and ovary, which shares the same morphological and immunohistochemical features with the more common mesonephric adenocarcinoma (MAC), which mostly arises the uterine cervix. Despite the similarities between these tumors, the histogenesis of M-LAC is still disputable. Case presentation: Sixty-one-year-old woman presented with an advanced tumor of the left ovary with intraabdominal spread and liver metastases. After receiving 5 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, she underwent a hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and resection of the liver metastasis, omentum, and appendix. Histologically, the ovarian tumor consisted of two components, whose morphology and immunohistochemical results were typical of either a serous borderline tumor (immunohistochemical positivity for PAX8, WT1, ER and PR) or a mesonephric-like carcinoma (immunohistochemical positivity for PAX8, TTF1 and GATA3). Only the component of the mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma metastasized to the omentum and liver. A molecular analysis with a panel of 271 genes (size 1020 kbp) was performed separately on samples from the borderline tumor, primary ovarian mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma, and liver metastasis. The results showed the clonal origin of all samples, which shared the same KRAS (NM_004985.3:c.34G > T, p.(G12C)) and PIK3CA (NM_006218.2:c.1633G > A, p.(E545K)) somatic mutations. Moreover, in the sample from the primary mesonephric-like carcinoma and its liver metastasis a likely pathogenic somatic MYCN mutation (NM_005378.4:c.131C > T, p.(P44L) was found. In all samples, the deletion of exons 9–10 in the CHEK2 gene was present, which is in concordance with the previously performed genetic testing of the blood specimen which revealed the hereditary CHEK2 mutation in this patient. Conclusions: Our result support the theory that at least some mesonephric-like ovarian adenocarcinomas are of Müllerian origin. The serous borderline tumor seems to be a precursor of mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma, which has been proven in our case by both tumors sharing the same mutations, and the presence of cumulative molecular aberrations in the mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]