Ovarian serous carcinogenesis from tubal secretory cells
Wenjing Zhang1,2,3*, Linxuan Wei1,2,3*, Lingmin Li1,4*, Binlie Yang1,5, Beihua Kong3, Guang Yao2,6 and Wenxin Zheng1,5,6,7
1Department of Pathology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA, 2Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA, 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, China, 4Department of Pathology, Shanxi Medical University, China, 5Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA, 6Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA and 7Department of Pathology UTSouthwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
Offprint requests to: Guang Yao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, 1007 E. Lowell St. Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. e-mail: guangyao@email.arizona.edu or Wenxin Zheng, M.D., Professor of Pathology, Chief, Gynecologic Pathology, UTSouthwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-9073 USA. e-mail: wenxin.zheng@utsouthwestern.
edu
Summary. Due to a poor understanding of tumorigenesis, ovarian cancers remain the most lethal gynecologic malignancy and cause horrific deaths. In the last decade, a new dualistic model for ovarian cancer was proposed, wherein ovarian serous cancers are classified as either high-grade or low-grade, with each having different tumorigenic processes, and pathologic and clinical features. Surprisingly, both high- and low-grade ovarian serous cancers were recently found to originate not in the ovaries, but rather from the secretory cells of the fallopian tube, mostly from the tubal fimbriated ends. In this article, we review the evidentiary basis for the aforementioned paradigm shift in the cell origin of ovarian serous cancers, as well as its potential clinical implications. Histol Histopathol 30, 1295-1302 (2015)
Key words: Ovarian serous carcinoma, Secretory cell, Fallopian tube, LGSC, HGSC
DOI: 10.14670/HH-11-645