Follicle Stimulating Hormone Receptor (FSHR) Gene and Postmenopausal Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC)

Objective: Follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) is expressed not only in granulosa cells of ovary but also in ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) and in benign and malignant epithelial ovarian tumors. The significance of this expression has remained unexplained so far. This transmembrane receptor is involved in G protein linked signal transduction and causation of neo-plasia. These findings have lead us to critically assess the mutation and single neucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of FSHR gene by an extensive search of concerned literature. Materials and Methods: A systematic review of reports from Medline/Pubmed was performed from May 2005 to May 2006 on the mutation of FSHR gene, their significance in OSE and ovarian cancer. Many reports were collected from journals and additional reports were perused from the reference lists of retrieved articles. Results: Expression of FSHR in OSE is a comparatively new finding. Some have found mutation in FSHR in granulosa cell tumor and one team could not find any in epithelium ovarian cancer. But SNP, though studied extensively in relation to infertility of various reasons, has not been looked into in such cancers except by a single group of pathologists from Hong Kong.