Gene Expression Profiling Reveals Novel Candidate Markers of Ovarian Carcinoma Intraperitoneal Metastasis

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has the highest mortality among gynecological carcinomas. The lack of specific markers for prognostic determination of EOC progression hinders the search for novel effective therapies. The aim of the present study was (i) to explore differences in expressions of ATP-binding cassette and solute carrier transporter genes, genes associated with drug metabolism and cell cycle regulation between control ovarian tissues, primary epithelial ovarian carcinomas (EOC) and intraperitoneal EOC metastases; (ii) to investigate associations of gene expression level with prognosis of patients with intraperitoneal metastases. Transcript levels of 62 genes were determined by quantitative real-time PCR in 44 primary EOCs, 29 intraperitoneal EOC metastases and in 14 control ovarian tissues. PPIA, UBC, and YWHAZ were used as reference genes for data normalization.