Basic fibroblast growth factor and ovarian cancer.

The factor(s) which regulate the rapid growth of ovarian epithelial carcinoma, as well as other types of malignant tumors, are still largely unknown. Recently, experimental evidence indicated that neoplastic cells are able to synthesize peptide growth factor and their receptors. This autocrine secretion could be one of the mechanisms to sustain their abnormal proliferation. In this study, we evaluated the possible role of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) that is a likely candidate because it has both angiogenic and mitogenic activity and has been found in a variety of other neoplasms. As assessed by both bioassay and radioimmunoassay, a bFGF-like protein was present in seven ovarian epithelial neoplasms and in primary culture of dispersed ovarian cancer cells. Levels of this protein as well as its bioactivity varied in the different tumors examined. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction indicated that the genes for bFGF and its receptor are expressed in all the samples studied. These data suggest that bFGF might be one of the growth factor regulating ovarian cancer cell proliferation through an autocrine mechanism. We are currently investigating whether the expression of this growth factor varies as a function of the histologic grade of the tumors.