Background: Women with ovarian cancer may be at increased risk for psychological distress around the time of diagnosis relative to patients diagnosed with other cancers, because of the seriousness of the disease. However, the molecular mechanism of this effect is far from clear.
Aim: We sought to investigate the influence of psychological status in regulating gene expression among women with primary ovarian cancer and to identify the small molecules which exhibit similar effects with different psychological status.
Materials and methods: DNA microarray analyses of 10 ovarian carcinomas (GSE9116, downloaded from GEO) identified 916 human transcripts that were differentially expressed in tumors from patients with high depression relative to grade-and stage-matched tumors from low depression patients, and pathways related to immune system were dysfunctional.
Results: Our results suggest that psychosocial stress is related to impaired immunity in ovarian cancer patients. Besides, we identified a group of small molecules which can be exploited as adjuvant drug to improve therapeutic effect for ovarian cancer, such as MS-275 and adiphenine.
Conclusions: Our findings may be useful for the development of management strategies for psychological distress, and we suggest that there is a need for improvement in the quality of life of cancer outpatients being treated with chemotherapy.