Abstract
The purpose of this work was to investigate whether there exists a significant quantitative difference in the RNA:DNA ratio between malignant and benign ovarian tumors and normal human ovaries. The material investigated was obtained from 56 different ovarian biopsies. The diagnosis was established histopathologically. To extract the nucleic acids from ovarian tissues, Schneider's method was used. The determination of RNA was done by the method of Ceriotti and of DNA by the method of Dische. The results were expressed as μg RNA or μg DNA per mg tissue. We found that the mean of RNA:DNA ratios was significantly different between normal ovaries and benign ovarian tumors: serous cystadenoma (p<0.01) and dermoid cyst (p<0.01). Also normal ovaries were significantly different from that of ovarian carcinoma (p<0.01). We observed that in carcinoma the mean of RNA:DNA was significantly different from that of dermoid cyst (p<0.02) but the difference was not significantly different from that of serous cystadenoma (p>0.5). The potential of these quantitative alterations in RNA:DNA ratios in differentiating the benign from the malignant and potentially malignant ovarian tumors will be discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 295-299 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Cellular and Molecular Biology |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| State | Published - 1979 |
| Externally published | Yes |