BIRC5 is differentially expressed in epithelial ovarian cancer.
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic cancer (1). We sought to identify genes associated with epithelial ovarian cancer and the high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) subtype by comparing global gene expression profiles of normal ovary with that of primary tumors from women diagnosed with epithelial cancer and HGSC in specific using published microarray data (2, 3). We identified the gene encoding the baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis repeat (IAP) containing 5, BIRC5 as among the genes whose expression was most different in epithelial ovarian cancer and in HGSC ovarian tumors. BIRC5 expression was significantly higher in ovarian tumors relative to normal ovary. Correlation of BIRC5 expression with survival outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer was complex, with low expression favorable early in disease and high expression favorable later in disease. These data indicate that expression of BIRC5 is perturbed in epithelial ovarian cancers broadly and in ovarian cancers of the HGSC subtype. BIRC5 may be relevant to pathways underlying ovarian cancer progression.