Hormone-dependent cancers in the female: Comparative genomics approaches in breast, ovarian, cervix and endometrial cancers

Cancer is said to be a genetic disease based on the large number of genome variations present in cancer cells. Cancers specific for women - breast, ovarian, cervical and endometrial - represent a major health problem due to their high incidence and mortal ity rates. DNA copy number alterations are key genetic events in the development and progression of cancer. Microarray Comparative Genomic Hybridization (arrayCGH) provides a means to examine DNA copy number aberrations. The Institute for Cancer Researc h Department of Genetics at the Norwegian Radium Hospital HF (RR-HF) has previously demonstrated the successful application of various arrayCGH platforms to detect global patterns of copy number variations in breast, ovarian and cervix uteri cancer. The proposal enclosed here aims at further expanding arrayCGH analyses to include endometrial cancer samples in addition to samples of breast, ovarian and cervix uteri cancer. The proposed two month project includes a pilot study of 20 to 30 endometrial canc er samples with the possibility of inclusion of all 110. These samples have been collected from two hospitals in Sofia, Bulgaria - the University Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology "Maichin Dom" and the Clinic of Oncogynecology at the National Centre o f Oncology. Additional samples of breast, ovarian and cervix uteri cancer will be provided by the Norwegian Radium Hospital HF (RR-HF). The aim of the study is to identify regions that are recurrently lost or amplified in endometrial cancer depending on tumor morphological characteristics and patient clinical parameters. Also, by comparing the results obtained for different cancers - breast, ovarian, cervical and endometrial - a more fundamental understanding of the biological dynamics of those cancer ty pes could be reached in order to identify common pathogenetic mechanisms leading to their formation and progression.