Histochemical and Immunohistochemical Properties of Endometrial and Endocervical Adenocarcinoma

ABSTRACT

The histologic differentiation of endometrial and endocervical adenocarcinomas is a common diagnostic problum of clinical importance, because the staging, treatment and prognosis of these lesions are quite different. First, we examined the distribution of acid mucin in endometrial and endocervical adenocarcinoma (23 cases and 25 cases repectively), but distinguishing differences between endometrial and endocervical adenocarcinoma, especially of endometrioid type, were not observed. Secondly, the distribution of low-molecular weight cytokeratin, vimentin and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) by immunohistochemistry were examined in formalin-fixed tissues. CEA was present in 88% of endocervical adenocarcinomas and 34.8% of endometrial adenocarcinoma. vimentin was found in 91.3% of endometrial adenocarcinomas, in contrast with only in 16% of endocervical adenocarcinomas. This study showed that the presence of vimentin in neoplastic glands, in which CEA is negative, may be helpful in the differential diagnosis of endometrial from endocervical adenocarcinomas.