Correlation of cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression with prognostic factors in ovarian cancer

• We evaluated patients underwent surgical treatment for ovarian cysts.
• We performed immunohistochemistry study for cytokines and iNOS in ovarian cancer.
• Prognostic factors were evaluated.
• Strong staining for TNF-α is related to histological grade 1 and early stages.

The study related the immunohistochemical staining of cytokines (IL2, IL5, IL6, IL8, IL10, and TNF-alpha), and iNOS staining with clinical and pathological parameters of patients with primary ovarian malignancy. We prospectively evaluated 40 patients who underwent surgical treatment in accordance with pre-established criteria and later confirmed diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Immunohistochemistry study for cytokines (IL2, IL5, IL6, IL8, IL10, TNF-alpha) and iNOS was performed. The evaluation of prognostic factors was performed using the Fisher's exact test. The significance level was less than 0.05. Histological grade 1 was significantly correlated with strong intensity for TNF-α (p = 0.0028). In addition, early stages showed strong expression intensity of TNF-α, but this was at the limit of significance (p = 0.0525). Strong staining immunohistochemical IL5 was related to disease-free survival less than or equal to 24 months, suggesting that a factor of poor prognosis, but there was no statistical significance (p = 0.1771). There was no statistical significance in relation at other cytokines studied. Therefore, immunohistochemical staining in strong intensity for TNF-α was related to histological grade 1 and early stages of ovarian cancer in our sample of patients.