Lymphocytes in Peritumoral Stroma: Evaluation in Epithelial Ovarian Neoplasms

ABSTRACT

Background: Ovarian cancer is a heterogeneous disease, where chronic inflammation is one of the central mechanisms of its pathogenesis. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the expression of CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD20 in the peritumoral stroma of benign and malignant ovarian epithelial neoplasms and to relate them to prognostic factors in ovarian cancer.

Methods: We evaluated 77 patients (40 benign epithelial ovarian neoplasms and 37 malignant epithelial ovarian neoplasms). Immunohistochemistry study for cytokines (CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD20) was performed. The evaluation of prognostic factors was performed using the Fisher’s exact test. The significance level was less than 0.05.

Results: A higher CD3 expression was found in the stroma of ovarian malignancies compared benign neoplasms, and greater expression of CD4 cells in the stroma of benign neoplasms compared to ovarian cancer. There was a greater expression of CD8 cells in the stromal ovarian malignancies with molecular type II compared to type I. In the evaluation of lymph node metastases, the absence of immuno-labelling of CD20 cells was associated with the absence of lymph node metastases.

Conclusion: The immune system plays a multifaceted role and can promote or inhibit tumor growth in different contexts.

Keywords:

• Ovarian cancer
• tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
• prognostic factors

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the funding received from the CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico), FUNEPU (Fundação de Ensino e Pesquisa de Uberaba), FAPEMIG (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais), and CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil).

Declaration of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.