Nuclear reactivity for estrogen. A possible diagnostic tool in differentiating colon cancer metastases in the ovary from primary mucinous ovarian tumors.

Tissue distribution of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and estrogen was analyzed in eight primary ovarian mucinous carcinomas, three primary mucinous colonic cancers, and four ovarian metastatic lesions from colonic and pancreatic adenocarcinomas. Primary ovarian mucinous carcinomas and metastatic colonic carcinomas had similar localization of CEA within the epithelial cytoplasm. Estrogen localization, in contrast, was shown within the epithelial nuclei of seven of eight primary ovarian mucinous tumors; whereas the nuclei of metastatic and primary mucinous colonic carcinomas did not have intranuclear estrogen. The cytoplasm and the stroma of both primary ovarian and metastatic colonic carcinomas stained for estrogen.