Urinary angiostatin levels are elevated in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

Objective: The poor prognosis associated with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is due to the lack of overt early symptoms and the absence of reliable diagnostic screening methods. Since many tumors over express angiogenic regulators, the purpose of this study was to determine whether elevated levels of the angiogenic or angiostatic molecules vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), endostatin (ES), and angiostatin (AS) were elevated in plasma and urine from patients with EOC.

Methods: VEGF, HGF, ES and AS were assayed by ELISA in samples from pilot cohort consisting of healthy women (N=48; pre-menopausal N=23, post-menopausal N=25), women with benign gynecological disease (N=54), patients with primary peritoneal cancer (PP) (N=2) and EOC (N=35).

Aberrant regulation of argininosuccinate synthetase by TNF-alpha in human epithelial ovarian cancer.

The pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, TNF-alpha, is dysregulated in malignant compared with normal ovarian surface epithelium (OSE). Several epidemiological studies have associated inflammation with ovarian tumorigenesis, with TNF-alpha playing a key role in modulating invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis. Here, we show that TNF-alpha also induces expression of arate-limiting enzyme in arginine synthesis, argininosuccinate synthetase (AS), thereby linking inflammation with several arginine-dependent metabolic pathways, implicated in accelerated carcinogenesis and tumour progression.

Expression and regulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha in normal and malignant ovarian epithelium.

Epidemiologic studies implicate inflammatory stimuli in the development of ovarian cancer. The proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and both its receptors (TNFRI and TNFRII) are expressed in biopsies of this malignancy. Here, we tested the hypothesis that TNF-alpha is a regulator of the proinflammatory microenvironment of ovarian cancer.

Lysophospholipids are potential biomarkers of ovarian cancer.

Objective: To determine whether lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and other lysophospholipids (LPL) are useful markers for diagnosis and/or prognosis of ovarian cancer in a controlled setting.

Method: Plasma samples were collected from ovarian cancer patients and healthy control women in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, Florida, and processed at the University of South Florida H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute (Moffitt).

Insulin-like growth factors, insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins, and endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women: results from a U.S. case-control study.

Objective: To assess whether circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF-2, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1), or IGFBP-3 were associated with endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women.

Study Design: Between 1987 and 1990, we conducted a case-control study of 405 women with endometrial cancer and 297 matched population-based controls. This analysis included 174 postmenopausal cases and 136 controls.

Cytology of human ovarian surface epithelial brushings.

Background: The human ovarian surface epithelium (HOSE) is the putative source of ovarian epithelial cancer, the most lethal gynecologic malignancy that affects women in the United States. The current study was designed to provide a database of normal HOSE cell features for diagnostic and research applications.

Methods: HOSE was harvested from 42 women undergoing laparoscopy or laparotomy for benign gynecologic disorders, infertility problems, or pregnancy.

Multiple actions of the chemokine CXCL12 on epithelial tumor cells in human ovarian cancer.

Of 14 chemokine receptors investigated, only CXCR4 was expressed on ovarian cancer cells [C. J. Scotton et al.

Insights from gene arrays on the development and growth regulation of uterine leiomyomata.

Objective: To use microarray analysis as an unbiased approach to identify genes involved in the induction and growth of uterine leiomyomata.

Design: Screen by arrays for up to 12,000 genes in leiomyoma (L) and control myometrium (M) from nine patients.

Setting: University research laboratories.