Immunophenotype and Human Papillomavirus Status of Serous Adenocarcinoma of the Uterine Cervix

Serous adenocarcinoma of the cervix (SACC) is a very rare tumor. Our study aimed to characterize the immune profile and human papillomavirus (HPV) status of SACC, in comparison with other serous adenocarcinomas arising in the female genital tract. The pathological specimens obtained from 81 patients with serous carcinoma of the uterine cervix (n = 12), 29 endometrium, 20 ovary and 20 patients with mucinous carcinoma of the uterine cervix were reviewed. We assessed the expression of WT-1, p53, p16, HER2, CEA, and CA125 by immunohistochemistry and HPV DNA by PCR in 12 SACC samples. Their immune profile was compared with that of uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC), ovarian serous adenocarcinoma (OSA), and mucinous endocervical adenocarcinoma (MEA). WT-1 and HER2 were expressed in very few SACC samples (0 and 0 %, respectively), but p16, CA125, CEA and p53 were present in 100, 92, 58 and 50 %, respectively. The difference in WT-1 expression between SACC and UPSC, MEA is not significant, but SACC differ significantly from OSA (p < 0.01). HPV DNA (type 16 or 18) was detected in 4 of the 12 SACC. The immunophenotype of SACC was similar to UPSC, whereas the frequency of expression of WT-1 was significantly lower in SACC than OSA. It appeared that p53 expression was associated with worse clinical outcome in patients with SACC, and that HPV infection was related to its occurrence.