Distinct Pattern of Inflammatory Enzyme Activities in Human Ovarian Cancer and Benign Myoma

Objective: Inflammatory cells and their products are significant components of malignancies. This study was performed to determine the activity of inflammatory enzymes myeloperoxidase (MPO) and N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) in ascitic fluid, sera or peritoneal lavage fluid from patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods: Eighteen patients age ranging from 25 to 79 years (54.6±2.9 years) with epithelial ovarian cancer submitted to surgical treatment (EOC group) and 17 patients with uterine myoma (Myoma group) submitted to abdominal hysterectomy (control group) were prospectively studied. MPO and NAG activities were evaluated colorimetrically in sera, ascites or peritoneal lavage fluid obtained from the patients at the time of laparotomy. Results: In a total of 18 EOC, there were stage I in 1 case (5.5%), II in 3 (16.7%), III in 11 (61.1%) and IV in 3 cases (16.7%). MPO activity in sera of EOC was higher than in the ascitic fluid from the same patients. Conversely, MPO activity was similar in sera from both EOC and myoma-bearing patients. Comparison between NAG activities in sera from both groups showed much higher values in the OEC patients. Furthermore, inflammatory enzyme activities were overall associated with the stage of the disease. Conclusions: Our results show that inflammation has been positively correlated with cancer and that the pattern of a systemic inflammatory response induced by EOC differs quantitatively from that of a typical benign pelvic condition. The most important limitation lies in the fact that the number of patients and controls was relatively small. Further studies with a larger number of patients and longer follow-up are necessary to assess the accuracy of the diagnostic and prognostic impact of these results.