Endosalpingiosis as it relates to tubal, ovarian and serous neoplastic tissues: an immunohistochemical study of tubal and Müllerian antigens.

OBJECTIVE: The origins and clinical significance of endosalpingiosis (ES), ectopic tubal epithelium, are not well understood. These investigations aim to characterize ES as it relates to normal fallopian tube, ovarian surface and serous neoplasms.

METHODS: A retrospective review of pathology reports from all prophylactic gynecologic surgeries from 2000 to 2010 was performed to assess the frequency of ES. Twenty-one archival specimens of ES, 6 normal fallopian tubes, 9 normal ovaries, 21 serous neoplasms and a commercially available ovarian tissue microarray were subjected to immunohistochemistry (IHC) with 11 tubal and Müllerian antigens. IHC staining was evaluated with a quantitative scoring system and scores were analyzed using MINITAB statistical software.

RESULTS: ES was noted in 3.5% of pathologic specimens from 464 prophylactic surgeries. The majority of antigens showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in median IHC scores between ES and normal fallopian tube epithelium (nFTE), while they were significantly different (p < 0.05) from the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE). Median IHC scores were unchanged in ES tissues regardless of the location of ES or the presence of a concurrent serous neoplasm. Three antigens emerged as contemporary tubal and ES biomarkers: phospho-Smad2, BCL2 and FOXJ1. All 3 biomarkers were expressed in ES, nFTE and serous neoplasms, but not in OSE or other tumor types.

CONCLUSION: This study provides immunophenotypic evidence that ES is more similar to the nFTE than OSE. Further, ES biomarker expression closely resembles serous neoplasms strengthening the growing body of evidence that all Müllerian serous carcinomas arise from tubal-like epithelium.