Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) increases angiogenesis. It is known that one of angiogenetic factors, angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) stabilizes maturity of normal vessels and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) antagonizes the action of angiopoietin-1 by binding Tie-2 that is their receptor. Recently those factors are known to be involved in carcinogenesis. The aim was to investigate the mRNA expression of those factors in epithelial ovarian cancer including normal ovary and ovarian cyst and to evaluate their role in ovarian carcinogenesis.

The tissue samples of 16 ovarian cyst, and 29 epithelial ovarian cancer patients who were diagnosed at Ewha Woman's University MokDong Hospital from 1997 to 2003, and 18 normal ovary subjects who had hysterectomy and salpingoophorectomy due to uterine myoma and confirmed as normal controls, were obtained. The mRNA expressions of Angiopoietin-1, Angiopoietin-2, Tie-2 and Vascular endothelial growth factor were measured by Quantitative Competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Their expressions were analyzed with ANOVA test and Spearman correlation test.

The expressions of Ang-1 mRNA were higher in normal ovary than those of ovarian cyst and ovarian cancer (p<0.05). The expressions of Tie-2 mRNA were higher in ovarian cyst than those of normal ovary and ovarian cancer (p<0.05). The expressions of VEGF mRNA were higher in ovarian cancer than those of normal ovary and ovarian cyst (p<0.05). The expression of Ang-2 mRNA in ovarian cancer was related with the expression of VEGF and Tie-2 mRNA.

The lower expression of Ang-1 mRNA and higher expression of VEGF mRNA might be a role in ovarian carcinogenesis. The expression of Ang-1, Tie-2 and VEGF might be related to ovarian carcinogenesis, together. However, this study is based on limited number of cases and short-term period of follow up, further prospective studies on a larger population should be done.