Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women and is often not detected until the later stages of disease, which contributes to poor prognosis. Biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis and outcome have been identified; however, many of these have not been evaluated at the biological and clinical levels. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation , Michael Birrer and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital identify fibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF18) as a predictive marker for poor overall survival in ovarian cancer patients. Overexpression of the gene encoding FGF18 was associated with enhanced tumor blood vessel formation and expression of cancer promoting cytokines. These data indicate that further studies on the predictive potential FGF18 and its use as a therapeutic target in ovarian cancer are warranted.
TITLE: FGF18 as a prognostic and therapeutic biomarker in ovarian cancer
AUTHOR CONTACT: Michael Birrer
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Phone: 617-724-4800; E-mail: mbirrer@partners.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70625?key=0daf1c1350c8820558ad
Journal of Clinical Investigation