Origin of clear cell carcinoma: nature or nurture?

David L. Kolin, Daniela M Dinulescu, Christopher P Crum
The Journal of Pathology · 2017 · vol. 244(2) , pp. 131–134 · doi:10.1002/path.5009 · PMID:29178260 · W2770571770
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Endometrioid and clear cell ovarian carcinomas may arise from secretory and ciliated cells, respectively, as indicated by differential cell marker expression.

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Abstract

A rare but serious complication of endometriosis is the development of carcinoma, and clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas of the ovary are the two most common malignancies which arise from endometriosis. They are distinct diseases, characterized by unique morphologies, immunohistochemical profiles, and responses to treatment. However, both arise in endometriosis and can share common mutations. The overlapping mutational profiles of clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas suggest that their varied histologies may be due to a different cell of origin which gives rise to each type of cancer. Cochrane and colleagues address this question in a recent article in this journal. They show that a marker of ovarian clear cell carcinoma, cystathionine gamma lyase, is expressed in ciliated cells. Similarly, they show that markers of secretory cells (estrogen receptor and methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 1) are expressed in ovarian endometrioid carcinoma. Taken together, they suggest that endometrioid and clear cell carcinomas arise from cells related to secretory and ciliated cells, respectively. We discuss Cochrane et al's work in the context of other efforts to determine the cell of origin of gynecological malignancies, with an emphasis on recent developments and challenges unique to the area. These limitations complicate our interpretation of tumor differentiation; does it reflect nature imposed by a specific cell of origin or nurture, by either mutation(s) or environment? Copyright © 2017 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Carcinoma, Endometrioid Endometriosis Ovarian Neoplasms Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Carcinoma, Endometrioid Female Humans Ovarian Neoplasms United Kingdom

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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