Expression of nestin in ovarian serous cancer and its clinicopathologic significance

OBJECTIVE: Nestin has been found to be overexpressed in several human ma - lignancies. The primary goal of this research was to investigate whether nestin expression correlates with the occurrence and development of ovarian cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Expression of nestin was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 315 cases of various epithelial ovarian lesions as well as 52 cases of normal ovarian epithelia. The association between nestin expression and vari - ous clinical pathological parameters was analysed. RESULTS : Immunohistochemical results showed that the positive correlation of nestin ex - pression gradually increased from benign and borderline to malignant ovarian tumours. Nestin overexpression was associated with more ad - vanced International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics stage and higher histological grade in serous adenocarcinoma. Nestin expres - sion was significantly associated with chemore - sistance. However, there was no significant cor - relation between nestin expression and the age and level of CA125 in patients. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that nestin ex - pression might contribute to the initiation, pro - motion, and progression of serous ovarian carci - noma; nestin expression is associated with poor chemoresponse. It could be a potential thera - peutic target in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma.