Immunohistochemical expression of placental alkaline phosphatase and vimentin in epithelial ovarian neoplasms.

The immunohistochemical expression of PLAP and vimentin was assessed in 23 benign, 6 borderline malignant and 31 malignant epithelial ovarian neoplasms. PLAP and vimentin were expressed in some benign (3/23 and 5/23 respectively) and borderline malignant (2/6 for both markers) tumours and they were often expressed in malignant tumours (16/31 and 17/31 respectively). There was a significantly increased expression of PLAP and vimentin in serous cystadenomas and serous carcinomas compared to their mucinous counterparts. Although there was no significant correlation between PLAP expression and histologic grade of carcinomas there was a trend towards increased expression in more differentiated carcinomas. No correlation was found between vimentin expression and degree of differentiation.