Differential expression of regulator of G-protein signaling 1 in human epithelial ovarian cancer.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic cancer (1). We performed discovery of genes associated with epithelial ovarian cancer and of the high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) subtype, using published microarray data (2, 3) to compare global gene expression profiles of normal ovary or fallopian tube with that of primary tumors from women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer or HGSC. We identified the gene encoding regulator of G-protein signaling 1, RGS1, as among the genes whose expression was most different in epithelial ovarian cancer as compared to the normal fallopian tube. RGS1 expression was significantly higher in high-grade serous ovarian tumors relative to normal fallopian tube. RGS1 expression correlated with overall survival in patients with ovarian cancer. These data indicate that expression of RGS1 is perturbed in epithelial ovarian cancers broadly and in ovarian cancers of the HGSC subtype. RGS1 may be relevant to pathways underlying ovarian cancer initiation (transformation) or progression.