[Basement membranes of epithelial tumors of the ovary. Histochemical and immunohistochemical study using antibodies to collagen IV, III, I and to laminin].

Thirteen ovarian tumours were the subject of a histochemical and immunohistochemical study using antibodies to collagen IV, III, I, and to laminin. Our study shows that it is not possible to assess the integrity of the basement membrane using simple histochemical methods (P.A.S., Gordon Sweets staining). In contrast, in benign epithelial tumours, a continuous basement membrane may be visualized beneath the epithelium of the cysts using antibodies to collagen IV and to laminin, collagen IV and laminin being two of the constituents of basement membranes. In malignant epithelial tumours, the immunoreactive material of collagen IV type or of laminin type, is arranged in a distinctly discontinuous manner, and is of unequal thickness around the edge of the cysts or of the neoplastic clusters. In three cases of borderline epithelial tumours, the discontinuity of the immunoreactive material (collagen IV or laminin) lying beneath the epithelium of the cysts, is not so pronounced. In comparison with studies carried out on the cervix uteri, this latter type of tumor, because of the constitution of its basement membranes, would appear to occur at a particular moment in their evolution, i.e. when they pass from the intra-epithelial stage and become infiltrative.