Abstract

The pathogenesis of ovarian cancer remains poorly understood. Genome-wide gene expression profiling can provide novel genetic data involved in the pathogenesis of disease. In this study, using normal ovarian surface epithelium and abnormal ovarian surface epithelium of patients with ovarian cancer as models for cDNA microarray analysis, we found that cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) expression of patients with ovarian cancer was increased. This result was further confirmed by semi-quantitative RT- PCR and Western blot. It was found that COX-2 was significantly up-regulated in ovarian cancer group in comparison with normal group on mRNA level. On protein level, COX-2 was also highly increased in ovarian cancer group. This study provides novel candidate molecules and suggests a potential local role for COX-2 as mediators of ovarian cancer and as markers of disease activity.

Key words: Ovarian cancer, COX-2, cDNA microarray, semi-quantitative RT- PCR, western blot.