CAJ | 학술논문

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic implications of immunohistochemical markers in uterine smooth muscle tumors. Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks were selected from 17 uterine leiomyosarcomas, 40 uterine unusual leiomyomas and 25 uterine usual leiomyomas. Utilizing immunohistochemical techniques with antigen retrieval, serial sections of each tumor for immunoreactivity with myogenic markers, ovarian steroid receptors, CD44v3, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and mast cells were assessed. Results: Although the myogenic markers and CD44v3 showed less frequent positivity in uterine leiomyosarcomas than those in unusual leiomyomas, they were not reliable markers for differentiating leiomyosarcoma from leiomyoma. Uterine leiomyosarcoma tended to have lower ovarian steroid receptors immunoreactivity rates than leiomyoma. Leiomyoma tended to have a higher quantity of intratumoral mast cells than leiomyosarcoma, while the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen was lower in them. Conclusion: Because the estimation of mitotic count was subject to significant variation, the immunohistochemical expression of ovarian steroid receptors, mast cells and proliferating cell nuclear antigen seemed to be helpful for the discrimination of unusual leiomyoma from leiomyosarcoma.