Nine ovarian Sertoli-Leydig
tumors, showing varying degrees of differentiation, one pure ovarian
Sertoli cell tumor, and one poorly differentiated stromal
tumor of the testis, were examined for the presence of
testosterone,
estradiol and
progesterone with an indirect immunoperoxidase method on
formalin fixed
paraffin embedded tissue. Clinically all nine patients with Sertoli-Leydig
tumors had evidence of increased
androgen production, manifested by either
hirsutism or
virilization; elevated serum
testosterone was found in all four patients in whom it was measured. The patients with the pure ovarian Sertoli cell and
testicular tumors were asymptomatic except for the presence of a mass.
Testosterone was identified in Leydig cells in nine instances, in Sertoli cells in six, and in poorly differentiated spindle cells resembling the mesenchyme of the embryonic gonad in two. Cells with vacuolated cytoplasm, both Sertoli and Leydig cells, though positive for
lipid were consistently negative for
testosterone.
Estradiol was present in Leydig cells in nine instances, in Sertoli cells in five, and in primitive gonadal stomal cells in two. The pattern of distribution was similar to that of
testosterone but the intensity of the reaction for
estradiol was generally less than that for
testosterone.
Progesterone was identified in Sertoli cells in one instance and was weakly positive in Leydig cells in three instances. The presence of
testosterone and
estradiol in both Sertoli and Leydig cells as well as in primitive spindle cells resembling those found in the embryonic gonad suggests that the latter cell is the precursor for both Sertoli and Leydig cells.