[Evaluation of prognostic factors in gynecological cancer examined by molecular biological study]

The usefulness of prognostic factors in gynecological cancer was evaluated using the oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes and DNA viruses detected with the molecular biological technique. In uterine cervical cancer, HPV types 16 and 18 are considered to have a high oncogenic risk, and are commonly associated with high grade CIN and invasive cancer under persistent HPV infection. C-myc overexpression in advanced stage and p53 mutation in HPV negative case are associated with poor survival. In endometrial cancer, oncogene activation and expression are less frequent than in cervical and ovarian cancer. K-ras point mutation (codon 12) tumors are more aggressive and c-erbB-2 overexpression are associated with metastasis and poor survival. In ovarian cancer, there are numerous abnormalities of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Especially, EGF-R and PDGF-R alpha expression are associated with decreased survival. p53 mutation also decreases survival and response to chemotherapy. Recently. MSH2 (Lynch II syndrome) and BRCA1 gene are known to relate with familial ovarian cancer.