Background: Ovarian cancer especially the epithelial type, is a major cause of female morbidity and mortality worldwide, so there is a great need for better diagnostic tools that can improve the histological diagnosis and predict the outcome by using immunohistochemical procedures.
Aim of the work: To evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of Insulin-like Growth Factor II m-RNA-binding Protein 3 (IMP3) in benign, borderline and malignant serous ovarian tumors and correlate this expression with some clinicopathological parameters.
Methods: This cross- sectional study was conducted retrospectively on 63 formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissue blocks of serous ovarian tumors from pathology department, Zagazig University from 2016 to 2019. Immunohistochemical staining using anti- IMP3 antibodies was done using streptavidin-biotin immunoperoxidase technique. The relationship between the staining intensity and percentage of positively stained cells and clinicopathological factors were statistically analyzed.
Results: IMP3 expression was detected in all borderline and 91.4% of malignant cases, 12.5% of benign cases. IMP3 intensity and percentage of positive stained cells were correlated with higher tumor grades and stages (P