| Ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death among women. Approximately 75% of all cases are diagnosed at advanced stages, reflecting both the asymptomatic nature of the disease and the absence of reliable biomarkers for early detection. Ovarian adenocarcinomas commonly have a poor prognosis. The majority of ovarian tumors (~80%) are derived from the ovarian surface epithelial tissue with the most common histological subtypes being serous and mucinous. Epithelial ovarian tumors can be further subdivided into benign, borderline tumor and carcinoma reflective of their possible outcome.;Approximately 80% of individuals with borderline ovarian tumors (BTs) carry a favorable prognosis, as do individuals diagnosed with early stage ovarian carcinoma. However, there is a small percentage of BTs that eventually progress to carcinomas and subsequent poor prognosis. Unfortunately, favorable and poor prognosis BTs cannot be distinguished histologically. In an effort to identify potential biomarkers and to further understand the etiology and biology of cancer, we performed mRNA expression and DNA copy number profiling (array-comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH)) on a well characterized set of BTs, primary adenocarcinomas and paired metastatic tumors. The integration of these two independent methods, mRNA pathway expression and array CGH profiling, confirmed the possible involvement of several novel molecular pathways in the development and progression of ovarian cancer.;Finally as a result of the analysis of the different pathways and chromosomal aberrations in primary adenocarcinomas and metastases of adenocarcinomas, we have identified new potential molecular biomarkers that could assist in the diagnosis, prognosis and determination of therapeutic strategies for ovarian cancer. The resulting molecular profiles not only clearly distinguished each histological tumor type but were also predictive of outcome in BTs. |
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