Microarray analysis of apoptosis-relevant genes modulated by glucocorticoids in ovarian cancer

Purpose: Almost all patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) receive chemotherapy and, concurrently, the synthetic steroid hormone dexamethasone to alleviate toxicity. This study was to test the impact of steroid hormones on apoptosis of EOC cells and to identify its mediators. Merthods: Microarray with 8K cDNA chips including apoptosis-relevant genes was used to study genes regulated by glucocorticoids in 2 representative EOC cell lines. Cells were incubated with dexamethasone at serum equivalent doses in hormone-depleted medium. Apoptosis was induced by application of TRAIL and determined by caspase 3 act…