The role of adhesion molecule NCAM in ovarian cancer progression and its correlation with intrabdominal cancer dissemination

Ovarian cancer is a highly metastatic disease and the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies. In 2009 in the United States, it was estimated that ovarian cancer will have been diagnosed in 21,550 women with an estimated 14,600 deaths per year (NCI program 2010). The majority of these deaths are from ovarian cancer of the serous histological type and around half of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer are 60 or older. Genetic predisposition for familial early-onset breast cancer accounts for approximately 5–10% of all breast cancers and 7–10% of all ovarian cancers (1) Mutations in two autosomal dominant genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been linked to familial breast or breast and ovarian cancer (2,3). Women who carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations have an estimated lifetime risk of developing breast cancer (of) between 60% and 85%, and a lifetime risk (of) of developing ovarian cancer between 26% and 54% for BRCA1, and between 10% and 23% for BRCA2(4,5,6,7). Despite enormous progress in the understanding of ovarian cancer biology, this disease remains one of the leading cause of cancer death among women in most western countries due to the advanced stage of disease at diagnosis (stages III–IV) when the vast majority of women (are diagnosed) present with disseminated intraperitoneal carcinomatosis. Epithelial tumors (carcinomas) account for approximately 60% of all ovarian (tumors) neoplasms. They are also classified in five major histological subtypes designated as follows: serous, mucinous, endometrioid, clear cell, and transitional cell (or Brenner type)(8,9). Although there have been a variety of epidemiologic variables correlated with ovarian cancer, such as talc use, galactose consumption, none has been so strongly correlated as low parity, infertility, and duration of reproductive career, infact early menarche and late menopause seem to increase the risk of ovarian cancer.