Immunology Letters 148 (2012) 133–137 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Immunology Letters jou rn al hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/immlet Anti-ovarian antibodies in sera of patients with ovarian tumors Sebastian Szubert a,∗ , Slawomir Michalak b,c , Dariusz Szpurek a , Rafal Moszynski a , Joanna Krygowska-Zielinska a , Stefan Sajdak a a Division of Gynecological Surgery, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland b Department of Neurochemistry and Neuropathology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland c Neuroimmunological Unit Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 2 June 2012 Received in revised form 6 September 2012 Accepted 19 September 2012 Available online 29 September 2012 Keywords: Ovrian cancer Ovarian tumors Anti-ovarian antibodies Cancer immunology a b s t r a c t Aim of paper: The purpose of this study was to assess the presence of anti-ovarian autoantibodies in sera of patients with ovarian tumors. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of 82 patients treated at the Division of Gynecological Surgery, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland in 2007–2011. 46 patients with malignant ovarian tumors and 36 patients diagnosed with benign ovarian tumor were included into the study. Age-matched healthy control groups consisted of 15 women and 19 men. Anti-ovarian autoantibodies in serum were assessed with the use of indirect immunofluorescence. The presence of anti-ovarian autoantibodies in serum was correlated with clinical and histopathological features of the disease. Results: Serum anti-ovarian autoantibodies were found in 59% (27/46) of patients with malignant ovarian tumors, compared to 55% (20/36) and 26% (4/15) of patients with benign ovarian tumors and healthy female controls respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P = 0.04). All serum samples from the male controls were negative. Anti-ovarian antibodies occurred more often among advanced stage (III and IV stage according to FIGO, P = 0.037) and grade 3 (P = 0.049) ovarian cancers, however, there were no differences in median progression-free survival (P = 0.388). The presence of anti-ovarian antibodies was neither influenced by histopathological type of the tumor, menopausal status, presence of ascites nor CA125 levels. Seropositivity for anti-ovarian antibodies was correlated positively with patients’ age and negatively with tumor size. Conclusions: Anti-ovarian autoantibodies develop with higher frequency in ovarian cancer comparing to healthy controls, however with similar proportion to benign ovarian tumors patients. The presence of antibodies against normal ovarian tissue correlates with ovarian cancer aggressiveness. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malig- nancy and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women in United States [1]. The main cause of high mortality related to ovarian cancer is lack of early symptoms and unavail- able screening tests leading to delayed diagnosis. Currently, about 70% of patients are diagnosed at III and IV FIGO clinical stage [2]. Recently, the role of autoantibodies to tumor-associated anti- gens (TAAs) in the diagnosis of cancer has been widely investigated [3,4]. Ovarian cancer is regarded as strongly immunogenic neo- plasm and significant proportion of TAAs have been associated with ovarian cancer development [5,6]. Moreover, in sera of patients with ovarian cancer also the antibodies targeting normal ovarian ∗ Corresponding author at: Division of Gynecological Surgery, 33 Polna St., 60-535 Poznan, Poland. Tel.: +48 61 8419490; fax: +48 61 8419418. E-mail address: szuberts@o2.pl (S. Szubert). tissue were revealed [7]. However, their clinical significance has not been elucidated in ovarian cancer. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of anti-ovarian autoantibodies in sera of patients with ovarian tumors and to correlate their presence with clinical and histopathological features of the disease. 2. Materials and methods Serum samples were collected from 82 consecutive patients treated due to ovarian tumor in Division of Gynecological Surgery Poznan University of Medical Sciences between 2007 and 2011. Patients were divided into two groups: (1) malignant ovarian tumors (n = 46), including 6 cases of borderline ovarian tumors, and (2) benign ovarian tumors (n = 36). The group of healthy age- matched controls included 15 women and 19 men. None of subjects from control group had any acute or chronic autoimmune or inflam- matory condition at the inclusion or in history. No clinical or laboratory signs of the disease was observed. One control subject had history of cholecystectomy and one of appendectomy. 0165-2478/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.imlet.2012.09.008