Role of IGF-I in Primary Ovarian Cancer - A Study of the OVCAD European Consortium

Abstract

Background/aim: IGF-I (insulin growth factor 1) is crucially involved in cellular proliferation. Moreover, deregulation of IGF-I has been shown to be relevant in the carcinogenesis of various tumor entities. However, the impact of IGF-I in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is unclear. In the present study, we investigated the predictive and prognostic role of circulatory IGF-I in primary EOC patients.

Patients and methods: In the FP6 European Project "OVCAD", 275 consecutive primary EOC patients were enrolled. Patients were eligible if radical cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy were performed. Plasma IGF-I was detected using ELISA.

Results: Increased plasma IGF-I levels were more frequently found in well-differentiated epithelial ovarian carcinoma (p=0.0047). A weak correlation was observed between IGF-I levels and CA-125 in patients with serous EOC (p=0.04). No association between IGF-I expression and other clinico-pathological parameters was observed.

Conclusion: IGF-I is overexpressed in patients with well-differentiated EOC. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the role of IGF-I in this sub-group of patients.

Keywords: IGF1; low-grade serous carcinoma; ovarian cancer.