Epigenetic Markers of Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women, and has the highest mortality rate of the reproductive cancers (1). Ovarian cancer is often asymptomatic in its early stages and because of lack of early detection strategies, most patients are diagnosed with disseminated disease, for whom the 5-year overall survival rate is only 20% (2). In the absence of an early detection test, improved therapies for advanced disease are critical to improving the survival for women with ovarian cancer. Most patients receive cytotoxic chemotherapy following surgical resection of their tumor; however, although the majority of patients are initially responsive to chemotherapy, most of them eventually develop drug-resistant disease, that is essentially incurable. A better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis underlying ovarian cancer is the key to identifying markers for early detection and novel therapeutics.