THYMIDYLATE SYNTHASE ACTIVITY AS A PROGNOSTIC FACTOR IN OVARIAN-CANCER

We assayed thymidylate synthase (TS) activity and performed flow-cytom etric DNA analyses in fresh tumor tissues from 38 patients with ovaria n cancer. TS activity was closely correlated with prognosis but was no t related to age, clinical stage, histologic type or lymph node metast ases. Patients with TS activity higher than 2.0 pmol/g tissue had sign ificantly worse prognoses than those with lower levels (p < 0.01). Als o, patients with DNA aneuploidy or high S-phase fractions (> 20%) had worse prognoses than those with DNA diploidy or lower fractions. Resul ts suggest that TS activity may be a good prognostic indicator in ovar ian cancer.