Ma et al. Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research 2010, 29:85 http://www.jeccr.com/content/29/1/85 R E S E A R C H Open Access REexseparcrhession of bone morphogenetic protein-2 and its receptors in epithelial ovarian cancer and their influence on the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients Ying Ma*, Lin Ma*, Quan Guo and Shulan Zhang Abstract Background: To determine the expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and its receptors BMPRIA, BMPRIB, and BMPRII in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and to analyze their influence on the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. Methods: Semi-quantitative RT-PCR and western blot were applied to detect the expression of BMP-2 and its receptors BMPRIA, BMPRIB, and BMPRII in EOC, benign ovarian tumors, and normal ovarian tissue at the mRNA and protein levels. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression of BMP-2 and its receptors in 100 patients with EOC to analyze their influence on the five-year survival rate and survival time of ovarian cancer patients. Results: (1) The mRNA and protein expression levels of BMP-2, BMPRIB, and BMPRII in ovarian cancer tissue were remarkably lower than those in benign ovarian tumors and normal ovarian tissue, while no significant differences in BMPRIA expression level was found among the three kinds of tissues. (2) The five-year survival rate and the average survival time after surgery of EOC patients with positive expression of BMP-2, BMPRIB, and BMPRII were remarkably higher than those of patients with negative expression of BMP-2, BMPRIB, and BMPRII. BMPRIA expression was not associated with the five-year survival rate or with the average survival time of ovarian cancer patients. Conclusions: BMP-2, BMPRIB, and BMPRII exhibited low expression in EOC tissue, and variation or loss of expression may indicate poor prognosis for ovarian cancer patients. Background Ovarian cancer is the most lethal type of malignant tumors of the female reproductive system, and despite recent developments in diagnosis and treatment tech- niques, the five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer patients is only 20-40%[1]. The low survival rate is likely due to the lack of early symptoms for this cancer; most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and exhibit widespread metastasis. At present, the pathological causes of ovarian cancer are unclear. Thus, it is urgent to investigate and search for novel treatment regimens. The development of tumors is believed to be a complex process involving several genes and several factors, and more and more influencing factors are emerging. In recent years, researchers have focused on the correlation between bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and the presence of tumors. BMP is a member of the transform- ing growth factor-β superfamily. Initially, it was thought to induce bone formation and chondrogenesis in vivo, and current evidence suggests that it also participates in various biological processes of cells, such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis[2]. BMP signaling is medi- ated by transmembrane serine/threonine kinases, namely, BMPRI (BMPRIA, BMPRIB) and BMPRII recep- tors[3]. There are 16 kinds of BMPs, and the majority of studies have focused on BMP-2, which has been shown to play a crucial role in the occurrence and development of breast cancer[4-6], lung cancer[7-11], prostatic carci- noma[12-14], and colon cancer[15,16]. However, the cor- * Correspondence: may1@sj-hospital.org, lin.ma@live.se Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2010 Ma et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons At- tribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.