The brave heart dentritic cells are destroyed by invading cancer cells in ovarian serous tumors

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells are professional antigen-presenting cells specialized in stimulation of pure T lymphocytes, which are key components of antiviral and antitumor immunity. Their significance in tumor progression is still under debate. Investigate how CD1a-positive dendritic cells counts differ through the spectrum of ovarian serous tumors and to evaluate its possible relationship with histopathologic parameters, including lymphovascular invasion, capsular perforation, and lymph node metastasis.METHODS: Benign, borderline, and malignant ovarian serous tumors were retrieved from the tissue archives of our department. Tissue sections were stained using CD1a monoclonal antibody. Immunohistochemical CD1a-positive dendritic cells counts were calculated and analyzed.RESULTS: Significantly different CD1a scores were observed in Kruskal-Wallis analysis between benign, borderline, and malignant serous tumors (P<0.001 for benign versus borderline and benign versus malignant groups, P<0.008 for borderline versus malignant groups). Among the malignant group, CD1a scores did not show statistically significant difference with the presence of lymphovascular invasion, capsular perforation, or lymph node metastases (P=0.122, P=0.185, P=0.851, respectively).CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of tumors with high CD1a score significantly increased from benign to borderline serous tumors but showed a considerable decline from borderline to malignant serous tumors. The preliminary findings of our study suggest that CD1a-positive dendritic cells are destroyed by malignant tumor cells and further studies can shed light on whether dendritic cell vaccines could be used as an additional treatment in ovarian serous carcinoma.