Chronic infection, inflammation, and epithelial ovarian cancer.

At the present time, the etiology of epithelial ovarian cancer is poorly understood. It has recently been recognized that certain chronic infectious agents may contribute to carcinogenesis by inducing a state of persistent inflammation. Since the female upper genital tract is a frequent site of chronic infections, we propose various strategies that may be useful for determining the potential role of chronic infection and persistent inflammation in the pathogenesis of epithelial ovarian cancer. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.