Notch1 expression correlates with tumor differentiation status in ovarian carcinoma.

Notch signaling and its receptor Notch1 are expressed in ovarian epithelial tumors, but the relationship between Notch signaling and ovarian cancer remains to be elucidated. In this study, we detected the expression of Notch1 in ovarian tissues and human ovarian cancer cell lines. We also analyzed the expression of Notch1 and its relationship with differentiation status and FIGO (Federation International of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage in ovarian cancer tissues. Immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to detect the expression of Notch1 in 109 ovarian cancer tissues, 65 patient-matched opposite side normal ovarian tissues and 48 normal ovarian tissues, together with A2780, HO-8910 and IOSE 144 cell lines. Our results showed that the expression of Notch1 in ovarian cancer tissues was higher than that in matched normal tissues and normal tissues, Notch1 is highly expressed in ovarian cancer cells A2780 and HO-8910. Moreover, expression of Notch1 increased gradually with the poor differentiating of cancer tissues and the increasing of FIGO stage in ovarian cancer tissues. It was concluded that Notch1 might be involved and play an oncogenic role in the development of ovarian cancer.