We previously established that multicellular ovarian cancer spheroids develop intrinsic multidrug resistance with the appearance of quiescent cell areas. p27 protein is a determinant of such resistance.
These results suggest that the underexpression of p27 caused by post-translational mechanism may contribute to the development and progression and result in poor prognosis of serous ovarian cancers.
These data indicate that loss of p27 is a frequent event in ovarian carcinomas as compared with LMP tumors, suggesting that these tumor types may have different pathogenesis. p27 levels may also represent a useful prognostic marker for predicting disease recurrence in primary ovarian carcinomas.