Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most fatal gynecologic malignancy in women due to its silent growth and late diagnosis. Limited data are available regarding the expression of FOX A1 in OC. To our knowledge, no previous study has demonstrated FOXA1 in relation to p53 and CEA. The objective of the present work was to evaluate FOX A1 expression in association with p53 & CEA expression and clinicopathological data in OC (invasive serous and mucinous carcinomas) to determine its prognostic value.
Methods: This retrospective study was carried out on paraffin embedded blocks of 46 and 21 invasive serous and mucinous ovarian carcinomas respectively. Sectioning and immunohistochemical staining using anti-FOX A1, anti-p53, and anti-CEA antibodies was conducted.
Results: FOX A1 showed high expression (80.6%) in studied cases and significant association with old age (p=0.048), stage (p=0.001), high grade, capsular rupture and ascites (p < 0.001). p53 expression was detected in approximately two third of cases (65.7%), and only significant association could be detected with serous type. CEA expression was detected in (22.4%) of cases and significant association was found with age and mucinous type. 82.6% of negative p53 cases and 80.8% of negative CEA cases showed positivity for FOX A1.
Conclusion: FOX A1 is highly expressed and has a poor prognostic indication in invasive serous and mucinous ovarian carcinomas. p53 & CEA could help to differentiate high grade serous and mucinous ovarian carcinomas. FOX A1 overexpression in ovarian carcinomas could be used as a biomarker particularly in cases of negative p53 and CEA.