SPONTANEOUS APOPTOSIS IN OVARIAN-CANCER - AN UNFAVORABLE PROGNOSTIC FACTOR

Apoptosis and cell proliferation play important roles in the cellular response to chemotherapy, and may have prognostic value. The percentag e of apoptotic cells [apoptotic index (AI)] was evaluated in ovarian c arcinomas of 25 patients by the terminal desoxynucleotidyl transferase -mediated dUTP-nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique. All patients were surgically treated and received postoperatively chemotherapy consistin g of cytoxan and cisplatin or carboplatin. As a marker of proliferatio n the mRNA expression of histone H3 in tumor tissue was determined. In addition, tumor vascularity was assessed by immunohistochemistry and factor VIII. Patients with high AI had significantly shorter survival times (p=0.0001) or recurrence-free intervals (p=0.004) than patients with low AI.-No significant relationship was found between AI and hist one H3 mRNA expression, however, an inverse correlation of AI with mic rovessel density was detected. Tumors with high AI had significantly l ower microvessel count than tumors with low AI (p=0.002). The obtained data suggest that AI can be predictive of treatment outcome in ovaria n cancer.