Aberrant expression of sperm protein 17 in epithelial ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVE:To explore the expression profile and significance of sperm protein 17 (Sp17) in variant ovarian tumors. METHODS:Immunohistochemical staining (IHC) was used to detect the expression of Sp17 in 65 tissue samples of ovarian tumor.RESULTS: Eighteen of 41 (44%) epithelial ovarian cancer tissue sections showed Sp17 expression at different degree. By using immunocytochemistry staining, Sp17-positive cancer cells were found in ascites fluid from patients with ovarian cancer. None of 7 no-epithelial tumors primarily developed in ovarian and 17 ovarian adenocarcinoma metastatic (primary cancers in stomach, colon, oviduct, cholecyst, lung and other organ) were determined to be Sp17 positive IHC. CONCLUSIONS: Sp17 is expressed frequently at the protein level in epithelial ovarian cancers and thus represents a novel diagnostic molecular marker and an immunotherapy target for epithelial ovarian cancer.