ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: We investigated the expression of chemokine receptors in human ovarian cancer to understand the role of chemokines in ovarian cancer development and metastasis. METHODS: Twenty-two cases of epithelial ovarian cancer were studied for expression of 13 chemokine receptors such as CXCR1-CXCR5 and CCR1-CCR8 by using semi- quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, we studied the relationship between the chemokine receptors expression and lymph nodes metastasis of ovarian cancers. RESULTS: As compared with normal ovarian tissues, ovarian cancer tissues showed higher mean expression levels of CCR1,3,4,5,7,8 and CXCR1,3,4. Of chemokine receptors, CCR7 revealed the significantly higher levels of expression in ovarian cancer tissues relative to normal tissues. In the cases of retroperitoneal lymph nodes metastasis, increased expression of CCR2,4 and CXCR 1,3,4 was observed although there was no statistical significance. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there is a complex chemokine/chemokine receptor network in pathogenesis and the way of lymph node metastasis of ovarian cancer rather than a specific chemokine or chemokine receptor.