{"paper_id":"9a7b53bc-8b8b-4ce3-ba7a-359990b4fa66","body_text":"INTRODUCTION TO REVIEW ARTICLE\nInt J Clin Oncol (2009) 14:377 © The Japan Society of Clinical Oncology 2009\nDOI 10.1007/s10147-009-0930-3\nI. Konishi (*)\nDepartment of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Kyoto University \nGraduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan\nTel. +81-75-751-3267; Fax +81-75-761-3967\ne-mail: konishi@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp\nIkuo Konishi\nOvarian cancer in endometriosis\n(Yamaguchi et al.)3 has disclosed that a high-iron microen-\nvironment exists in ovarian endometriotic cysts, and that \nthis may be related to clear cell carcinogenesis that is char-\nacterized by the expression of specifi  c genes. Against this \nbackground, this review covers recent progress in the \nimportant area of ovarian cancer and endometriosis.\nReferences\n1. Nezhat F, Datta S, Hanson V , et al. (2008) The relationship \nof endometriosis and ovarian malignancy. Fertil Steril 90:1559–\n1570\n2. Kobayashi H, Sumimoto K, Moniaw N, et al. (2007) Risk of devel-\noping ovarian cancer among women with ovarian endometrioma: a \ncohort study in Shizuoka, Japan. Int J Gynecol Cancer 17:37–43\n3. Yamaguchi K, Mandai M, Toyokuni S, et al. (2008) Contents of \nendometriotic cysts, especially the high concentration of free iron, \nare a possible cause of carcinogenesis in the cysts through the iron-\ninduced persistent oxidative stress. Clin Cancer Res 14:32–40\nReceived: August 17, 2009\nEndometriosis is a unique disease entity in which ectopic \nendometrial-like tissues exist in the ovary, pelvic perito-\nneum, and various other sites in young women; this entity \nproduces severe symptoms and effects such as dysmenor-\nrhea, dyspareunia, pelvic pain, and infertility. Recently, \nendometriosis has also received much attention as an impor-\ntant origin of cancer.\n1 Although among various histological \ntypes of ovarian carcinoma, clear cell and endometrioid \nadenocarcinomas are known to arise frequently in ovarian \nendometriotic cysts, little was known about the incidence, \nmolecular mechanisms, natural clinical course, possibility of \nearly detection, or treatment strategy for these two types \nof ovarian carcinoma. Recently, however, there has been \nprominent progress in this fi  eld. Kobayashi’s group\n2 has \nreported that the possible incidence of malignant transfor-\nmation of ovarian endometriotic cysts is 0.7%, based on \nthe prospective follow-up of cohorts in the ovarian cancer \nscreening program of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In regard \nto the molecular basis of malignant change, Mandai’s group","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}