Low expression of Foxo3a is associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients.

To investigate whether Foxo3a expression is correlated with p27(kip1) protein levels as well as how it might be clinically relevant, we evaluated the expression of Foxo3a in several ovarian tumors. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed in 63 cases of ovarian tumors. Ten cases were evaluated by Western blot analysis. There was a correlation observed between Foxo3a over-expression and clinic pathological parameters (p = 0.032). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that Foxo3a low expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis of patients. It may be a useful prognostic marker and target in ovarian cancer.