Agrimaldo Martins Filho

Laboratory predictors of survival in ovarian cancer

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE To relate disease-free survival and overall survival with type I and type II ovarian cancer and preoperative laboratory parameters biomarkers. METHODS A retrospective study was carried out based on the collection of data from medical records of patients with ovarian tumors. Kaplan-Mayer curves were drawn based on the statistical analysis of the data and were compared using the Log-rank test. RESULTS Disease-free survival in type I ovarian cancer was significantly higher than in type II (p=0.0013), as well as in those with normal levels of CA-125 (p=0.0243) and with a platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) lower than 200 (p=0.0038). The overall survival of patients with type I ovarian cancer was significantly higher than in patients with type II, as well as in patients with normal CA-125 serum levels (p=0.0039) and those with a preoperative fasting glucose of less than 100 mg/dL. CONCLUSION CA-125 levels may predict greater overall and disease-free survival. PLR < 200 may suggest greater disease-free survival, whereas normal fasting glucose may suggest greater overall survival.

Evaluation of cytokine immunostaining in ovarian neoplasms and endometriomas

The objective of our study was to quantify and compare the immunostaining of IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in endometriomal tissue, non-neoplastic tumors, benign neoplasms, and malignant ovarian neoplasms. The study involved 90 patients: 15 non-neoplastic ovarian lesions, 28 ovarian benign neoplasms, 28 ovarian malignant neoplasms, and 19 ovarian endometriomas were diagnosed. Immunohistochemistry was performed for cytokines IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α and their concentrations were compared in these groups. Fisher's exact test was used, requiring a P-value of < 0.05 for significance. IL-5 and IL-8 epithelial immunostaining is stronger in endometriomas than in ovarian cancer (P-values of 0.0046 and 0.0149, resp.). The stromal immunostaining of TNF-α, IL-5, IL-6, and IL8 is stronger in endometriomas than in ovarian cancer (P-values of 0.0008, < 0.0001, 0.0003, and 0.0006, resp.). Stronger immunostaining of some cytokines in endometriomas compared to ovarian cancer reflects an inflammatory and immune response that could be future targets for new discoveries about the infiltrative behavior of endometriosis.