Analysis of cytogenetic alterations in stage III serous ovarian adenocarcinoma reveals a heterogeneous group regarding survival, surgical outcome, and substage.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among patients with gynecological cancers, but the biology of these tumors is still among the least understood of all major human malignancies. In this study, comparative genomic hybridization was used to determine chromosomal alterations in 98 stage III serous papillary adenocarcinomas. The tumors were grouped according to survival and the main prognostic factors stage and surgical outcome. There were chromosomal imbalances that were significantly more common in tumors from patients who died than in tumors from patients who survived: gains of 1q24-qter and losses of 4p, 4q31.1-qter, 5q12-q22, 8p, 16q, and X. Furthermore, we observed that gains of 8q23-8q24.2 and losses of 4p, 4q13-4q26, 4q31.1-qter, 5q12-q22, 8p, and 16q were significantly more common in tumors from patients with macroscopic residual tumor after primary surgery, compared to tumors from those who had undergone radical surgery. Gains of 3q13.3-qter, 6p, 7q21-q31, and 11q13-q23 and losses of 4q31.1-qter and 16q were more common in stage IIIc tumors than in stage IIIa+b tumors. On the basis of our results, we suggest that there are biological differences among the groups mentioned above and that absence of chromosomal aberrations in specific regions predicts a good clinical outcome for individual patients.