C-KIT RECEPTORS IN OVARIAN-TUMORS AND THE RESPONSE OF OVARIAN-CARCINOMA CELL-LINES TO RECOMBINANT HUMAN STEM-CELL FACTOR

The dose intensity of chemotherapy is an important factor in the treat ment of patients with ovarian cancer, and a role for hemopoietic growt h factors in accelerating bone marrow recovery after intensive chemoth erapy has been established. A clinical trial has been proposed introdu cing recombinant human stem cell factor (rhSCF) to improve peripheral blood progenitor cell mobilization following chemotherapy for ovarian malignancy. In view of this a study to examine the expression of c-kit , the receptor for SCF, in ovarian tumors, and also the effect of rhSC F on the growth of ovarian tumor cell lines has been carried out. Of t he 46 ovarian tumors examined immunohistochemically only one, a malign ant teratoma, demonstrated positive c-kit expression. None of the shor t term or established ovarian carcinoma cell lines treated with rhSCF showed significant growth acceleration of adenocarcinoma cells. Simila rly, none possessed c-kit receptors detected immunohistochemically.