Activation of hedgehog signaling is not a frequent event in ovarian cancers

The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway regulates many processes of development and tissue homeostasis. Activation of hedgehog signaling has been reported in about 30% of human cancer including ovarian cancer. Inhibition of hedgehog signaling has been pursued as an effective strategy for cancer treatment including an ongoing phase II clinical trial in ovarian cancer. However, the rate of hedgehog signaling activation in ovarian cancer was reported differently by different groups. To predict the successful for future clinical trials of hedgehog signaling inhibitors in ovarian cancer, we assessed hedgehog pathway activation in 34 ovarian epithelial tumor specimens through analyses of target gene expression by in-situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR and real-time PCR. In contrast to previous reports, we only detected a small proportion of ovarian cancers with hedgehog target gene expression, suggesting that identification of the tumors with activated hedgehog signaling activation will facilitate chemotherapy with hedgehog signaling inhibitors.