Identification of Key Factors Associated with Early- and Late-Onset Ovarian Serous Cystadenocarcinoma

Abstract

Aim: To uncover the molecular mechanisms of early-onset ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma (EOOSC; patients <50 years old) and late-onset ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma (LOOSC; patients ≥50 years old). Materials & methods: Bioinformatics was utilized to identify the key factors. Results: 478 EOOSC and 899 LOOSC individual differentially expressed genes were identified and enriched in different pathways. The expression of key genes LAG3, LRRC63 and MT1B significantly influenced the overall survival of EOOSC patients. The expression of key genes RDH12, NTSR1, ZSCAN16, CT45A3 and EPPIN_WFDC6 significantly affected the overall survival of LOOSC patients. Conclusions: The molecular mechanisms of EOOSC and LOOSC appear to be different, so that patients might be treated individually in respect of age.

Lay abstract

The chances of surviving ovarian cancer decrease as you get older. Ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma is the most common and deadly type of ovarian cancer. Research has shown that there are differences between younger and older patients in relation to how the cancerous ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma tumor behaves and how the body responds to the cancer. Our research is the first to show which genes could be responsible for these differences and which genes become more or less active as you grow older. Our results suggest that ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma patients might need to be treated differently with respect to their ages.

Keywords::

• bioinformatics analysis
• early-onset ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma
• key genes
• late-onset ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma
• pathways
• prognostic factors

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/fon-2020-0668

Author contributions

Conceptualization and writing, S Ma; data analysis, S Ma and Y Zheng; investigation, S Ma, C Fei and Y Zheng; methodology, S Ma and Y Zheng; data analysis, writing and manuscript editing, C Fei; all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51975124) and Research Start-up Funding of Fudan University (grant no. FDU38341). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51975124) and Research Start-up Funding of Fudan University (grant no. FDU38341). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.