Clear cell carcinoma of the ovary: a continuing enigma

¹ Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stan.kaye{at}icr.ac.uk.

Accepted 25 September 2006

	Abstract

Ovarian clear cell adenocarcinomas (OCCA) account for less than 5% of all ovarian malignancies. Compared to other epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) subtypes, they are associated with a poorer prognosis and are relatively resistant to conventional platinum-based chemotherapy. Hence, there is a need to improve our understanding of its pathobiology in order to optimise currently available treatments and develop new therapeutic strategies. This review summarises the currently available literature regarding the pathogenesis of OCCA, its molecular genetic features and postulated molecular mechanisms that underlie its chemoresistant phenotype. Unfortunately, most studies on OCCA have hitherto been hampered by insufficient samples sizes leaving many key issues unresolved. It is envisaged that future high resolution genomic and gene-expression microarray studies incorporating larger sample sizes will lead to the characterisation of the key molecular players in OCCA biology, which may potentially lead to the identification of novel targets for therapeutic development in the future.

Key Words: Cancer, Cell, Chemoresistance, Clear, Ovarian

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