Diagnosis of primary versus metastatic ovarian adenocarcinoma using p53 gene mutation analysis

Distinguishing primary ovarian cancer from metastatic colorectal cancer is often difficult by a conventional pathological examination alone. We assessed the usefulness of p53 gene mutation analysis for the differential diagnosis of ovarian adenocarcinoma. A 66-year-old woman suffered multiple organ metastases, including the liver, para-aortic lymph node, and right ovary, following an operation for advanced sigmoid colon cancer. She underwent ovarian resection after effective chemotherapy against the liver and para-aortic lymph node cancer. Histological analysis suggested primary ovarian cancer. Therefore, we applied p53 gene mutation analysis for the differential diagnosis of primary versus metastatic ovarian cancer from sigmoid colon cancer. The direct sequence of the p53 gene demonstrated the same gene mutation in codon 211 (ACT to ATT) in both the sigmoid colon and ovarian cancers. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer TP53 mutation database, this type of p53 mutation in colorectal cancer and ovarian cancer is 0.13% (5/3,693) and 0% (0/1,494), respectively. Therefore, we determined that the ovarian tumor was metastatic. Although p53 gene mutation analysis has been applied in some cases, this modality is very useful for the differential diagnosis of primary and metastatic cancer.