Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2026
Modeling the Early Steps of Ovarian Cancer Dissemination in an Organotypic Culture of the Human Peritoneal Cavity
Published on: December 31, 2015
[Relationship between expression of hyaluronan and pathologic features of ovarian adenocarcinoma]
Jun-Ying Qu1, Sang Li, Hua Lin
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,The Affiliated First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, PR China. qujuny@sohu.com
Background & Objective:
Hyaluronan (HA) is one of the major components of extra-cellular mesenchyma (ECM), which is secreted by several kinds of cells, including tumor cells. HA plays a role in cellular location and proliferation. It also takes part in the tumor cell motion and proliferation. It has been found that there was HA metabolism imbalance during the development of the solid tumors, and that, HA and its ligands might be related to tumor invasion, metastasis, and prognosis. The purpose of our research was to investigate the relationship among HA, the major ligand of cell adhesive molecule CD44, and pathologic types of ovarian adenocarcinoma.
Methods:
HA and CD44 immunohistochemical assays were performed in the histopathologic specimens of 78 cases with ovarian adenocarcinoma and 24 cases with ovarian adenoma. Their expression in benign and malignant tumors with various histopathologic gradations were determined. Results were recorded as negative, weak positive, and strong positive.
Results:
HA is mainly expressed in tumor stroma and extra-cellular mesenchyma, while cell membrane and cytoplasm were stained occasionally. In histologic sections, stronger expression was found in tumor stroma peripheral to carcinomatous nests. In total 102 specimens, positive HA expression in tumor stroma accounted for 71.27%. The positive rate in malignant tumor was 83.33%; the strong positive rate was 41.03%. However, the positive expression rate in benign tumor was 27.27%. The level of stromal HA expression increased along with histologic gradation. The expression level in serous adenocarcinoma was higher than that in other pathologic types. Expression of HA in stroma and expression of CD44 in the tumor cells were significantly correlated; and the correlation of HA expression with histologic gradations was better than that of CD44. However, the expression of HA in tumor cells was low and unrelated to pathologic types, histopathologic gradations, and CD44 expression.
Conclusion:
High level of HA in the stroma of ovarian adenocarcinoma is related to tumor histological gradations and pathologic types.
