Quantitation of Fas and Fas ligand gene expression in human ovarian, cervical and endometrial carcinomas using real-time quantitative RT-PCR

Alterations in the expression of Fas (CD95/APO-1) and its ligand (FasL) hav e been demonstrated in various types of cancers as a mechanism for tumour c ell to escape from the immune system. In the present study, we evaluated th e expression of the Fas and FasL genes in a wide range of primary gynaecolo gical carcinomas. These included 31 ovarian, 29 cervical and 25 endometrial carcinoma tissues as well as four ovarian and three cervical carcinoma cel l lines. Our real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that down-regulation of Fas expression is more p rominent than the up-regulation of FasL expression in all types of gynaecol ogical cancer studied. This down-regulation of Fas expression was also true for the seven carcinoma cell lines. Only one cervical carcinoma cell line, DoT, exhibited a high level of FasL expression. These results indicated th at down-regulation of Fas expression is a common abnormality in many types of cancers including gynaecological cancers, whereas an increase in FasL ex pression is not a common phenomenon in these cancers. (C) 2000 Cancer Resea rch Campaign.