The human ovary is a dynamic organ which continually changes in size and activity through life, as an integral part of the changes that the female is going through before during and after her reproductive life. Following the rapid increase in the use of transvaginal scan in recent years, the measurement of ovarian volume has become quick, accurate and cost-effective. Ovarian volume is an import...

Gene therapy provides a novel treatment approach to cancer patients. Ideally, expression of therapeutic genes driven by cancer-specific promoters would only target tumors resulting in minimal toxicity to normal tissues. While there is a need of more effective and tolerable treatments for ovarian cancer patients, we aimed to identify gene promoters with high activity in ovarian tumors that can b...

Ovarian cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. The mevalonate pathway is thought to be a potential oncogenic pathway in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. Simvastatin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR) inhibitor, is a widely used drug for inhibiting the synthesis of cholesterol and may also have anti-tumorigenic activity. Our goal wa...

Expression of RCAS1 (receptor-binding cancer antigen expressed on SiSo cells) is associated with advanced disease of various malignancies including ovarian cancer. Proteolytic cleavage of RCAS1 at extracellular domains (ectodomain shedding) yields soluble RCAS1. Although RCAS1 can induce apoptosis in normal peripheral lymphocytes, its clinical significance and biologic function in ovarian cance...

The telomerase RNA-protein complex responsible for maintenance of telomeric DNA at chromosome ends, is usually inactive in most primary somatic human cells, but is specifically activated with in vitro immortalization and during tumorigenesis. Although expression of the RNA component of telomerase appears to be constitutive, the expression pattern of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT...

STUDY QUESTION Is the activity of sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) altered in granulosa and cumulus cells from young women with reduced ovarian reserve or women of advanced maternal age? SUMMARY ANSWER SIRT3 mRNA and active protein in granulosa and cumulus cells were decreased in women with reduced ovarian reserve and advanced maternal age. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Young women with reduced ovarian reserve or...

The telomerase RNA-protein complex responsible for maintenance of telomeric DNA at chromosome ends, is usually inactive in most primary somatic human cells, but is specifically activated with in vitro immortalization and during tumorigenesis. Although expression of the RNA component of telomerase appears to be constitutive, the expression pattern of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT...

  The aims of the present study were to determine the best time for egg stripping after ovulation and to study oocyte over-ripening in the Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius). Eggs were retained in the female abdominal cavity for 40 days post ovulation (DPO). Partial volumes of eggs stripped from 10 individually identified females at 10 days intervals and fertilized with a pool of semen ...