Expression Profiles of Genes Involved in Poor Prognosis of Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma A Review

Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the commonest cause of gynecological cancer-related mortality. Although the prognosis for patients with advanced cancer is poor, there is a wide range of outcomes for individual patients. Objective: The aim of this study was to review molecular factors predictive of poor prognosis of women with EOC by reviewing microarray research identifying gene expression profiles. Methods: A systematic search was performed in the electronic databases PubMed and ScienceDirect up to July 2008, combining the keywords genome-wide, microarray, epithelial ovarian cancer prognosis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition with specific expression profiles of genes. Results: Many genes that participated in cell signaling, growth factors, transcription factors, proteinases, metabolism, cell adhesion, extracellular matrix component, cell proliferation, and anti-apoptosis were overexpressed in patients with poor prognosis. Several important prognosis-related genes overlap with those known to be regulated by epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This signaling pathway of EMT (E-cadherin, beta-catenin, receptor tyrosine kinases, NF-kappa B, TGF-beta, or Writ signalings) will be discussed, as it provides new insights into a new treatment strategy. Conclusions: This review summarizes recent advances in prognosis-related molecular biology. Collectively, molecular changes possibly through EMT are considered to be a major contributor to the poor prognosis of EOC.