Differential expression of neuromedin U in human epithelial ovarian cancer.
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic cancer (1). We performed discovery of genes associated with epithelial ovarian cancer and of the high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) subtype, using published microarray data (2, 3) to compare global gene expression profiles of normal ovary or fallopian tube with that of primary tumors from women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer or HGSC. We identified the gene encoding neuromedin U, NMU, as among the genes whose expression was most different in epithelial ovarian cancer as compared to the normal fallopian tube. NMU expression was significantly higher in high-grade serous ovarian tumors relative to normal fallopian tube. NMU expression correlated with overall survival in patients with ovarian cancer. These data indicate that expression of NMU is perturbed in epithelial ovarian cancers broadly and in ovarian cancers of the HGSC subtype. NMU may be relevant to pathways underlying ovarian cancer initiation (transformation) or progression.