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BackgroundOvarian cancer ascites fluid (OCAF), contains malignant cells, is usually present in women with an advanced stage disease and currently has no effective therapy. Hence, we developed a new therapy strategy to target the expression of diphtheria toxin gene under the control of H19 regulatory sequences in ovarian tumor cells. H19 RNA is present at high levels in human cancer tissues (including ovarian cancer), while existing at a nearly undetectable level in the surrounding normal tissue.MethodsH19 gene expression was tested in cells from OCAF by the in-situ hybridization technique (ISH) using an H19 RNA probe. The therapeutic potential of the toxin vector DTA-H19 was tested in ovarian carcinoma cell lines and in a heterotopic animal model for ovarian cancer.ResultsH19 RNA was detected in 90% of patients with OCAF as determined by ISH. Intratumoral injection of DTA-H19 into ectopically developed tumors caused 40% inhibition of tumor growth.ConclusionThese observations may be the first step towards a major breakthrough in the treatment of human OCAF, while the effect in solid tumors required further investigation. It should enable us to identify likely non-responders in advance, and to treat patients who are resistant to all known therapies, thereby avoiding treatment failure.

Yolk sac tumor (YST) occurs rarely in older women, either in association with a variety of ovarian epithelial tumors or, considerably less often, without an identifiable epithelial precursor. The patients often have elevated serum levels of α-fetoprotein that roughly correlate with the amount of the YST component. In postmenopausal women with an ovarian mass and elevated serum levels of α-fetoprotein, a tumor of this type should be suspected. Endometrioid carcinoma is the most common putative precursor, and the tumor is often associated with an endometriotic cyst; however, malignant Müllerian mixed tumor and mucinous neoplasms have also been reported as precursors. We report 4 cases of YST in postmenopausal women. Of the 3 cases with an identified epithelial component, 1 was serous carcinoma, another was clear cell adenocarcinoma, and the third was an admixture of endometrioid and clear cell adenocarcinoma arising from an endometriotic cyst. Although a precursor epithelial ovarian neoplasm, typically a malignancy (somatic carcinoma), is usually identified, no precursor neoplasm was observed in 1 of our cases and in 5 cases from the literature. We believe that YSTs in older women, whether or not an epithelial component is detected histologically, constitute a single entity that is distinct from YSTs in younger patients and should be treated aggressively. Neoplasms with a YST component in older women are less responsive to the chemotherapy currently used for ovarian germ cell tumors; therefore, adjuvant therapy should include platinum-based chemotherapy designed to treat both epithelial ovarian cancer and germ cell tumors. Of the 24 reported cases, including our own, 17 died of neoplasms within 25 months and another was living with disease at 2 months. However, 2 more recent patients treated aggressively with platinum-based chemotherapy designed to treat both epithelial and germ cell tumor components with stage 1 disease are living and have been disease free >1 year after operation.

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