Zeren T.Inan S.Seda Vatansever H.Ekerbicer N.Sayhan S.2024-07-222024-07-22200800651281http://akademikarsiv.cbu.edu.tr:4000/handle/123456789/19020Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-α) are members of the polypeptide growth factor family. The epidermal growth factor-receptor (EGF-R) is a receptor tyrosine kinase of the ErbB family. Many types of cancer, including ovarian cancer, display enhanced EGF-R immunoreactivity on their cell surface membranes. Also, an increase in TGF-α synthesis and secretion usually occurs in human carcinoma cell lines. In this study, we compared the immunoreactivities of TGF-α and EGF-R in ovarian tumors and related immunohistochemical findings to the histological type of the tumors. Formalin-fixed, paraffin wax-embedded tissue sections from 40 patients who had serous-mucinous borderline tumor and serous-mucinous adenocarcinoma of the ovary (n=10 each) were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and labeled for binding of primary antibodies against TGF-α and EGF-R using an avidin-biotin-peroxidase method. A semi-quantitative grading system was used to compare immunohistochemical labeling intensities. Increased immunoreactivity of EGF-R and moderate immunoreactivity of TGF-α was detected in adenocarcinomas. There was no significant difference in the immunoreactivity of TGF-α among the histologic types of ovarian tumors. The results of this study support the hypothesis that EGF-R may be a more useful marker than TGF-α in epithelial ovarian tumors. © 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.Englishepidermal growth factor receptorprotein tyrosine kinasetransforming growth factor alphaadultarticlecell surfaceclinical articlecontrolled studydiagnostic valuedisease markerfemalehistopathologyhumanhuman cellhuman tissueimmunohistochemistryimmunoreactivitymalignant transformationovary adenocarcinomaovary cancerovary tumorprotein secretionquantitative analysisstainingtissue fixationArticle10.1016/j.acthis.2007.08.007