Mucinous tumors of the ovary with argyrophil cells

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Abstract
Cases (45) of [human] mucinous tumors of the ovary were studied for argyrophilia. Argyrophil cells were identified in 7 of the 22 cystadenomas (32%), 5 of the 11 borderline tumors (45%), and 2 of the 12 carcinomas (17%). These 14 tumors and 2 additional mucinous tumors known to contain argyrophil cells were studied further by immunohistochemical methods for the localization of calcitonin, gastrin, somatostatin, ACTH, serotonin, neurotensin and lysozyme. Serotinin immunoreactivity was identified in 15 of the 16 cases. Among the peptide hormones, there was a high frequency of positivity for ACTH, gastrin and somatostatin. Despite the demonstration of reactivity for these hormones, there was no clinical evidence of syndromes of hormone excess in the patients. Lysozyme was present in all but 1 of the benign and borderline tumors, but was not idenitified in the carcinomas. Lysoyme was also found in normal and neoplastic gastric and endocervical epithelium, indicating that its presence is not useful in differentiating gastroinestinal and mullerian-type epithelium. The results confirm previously recognized intestinal characteristics of the epithelium of many mucinous tumors, but also raise the question whether the simple, uniformly mucinous epithelium that is most common within these tumors and is generally regarded as endocervical in type may occasionally be gastric in nature.