Searching for the roots of ovarian cancer | Health & Fitness News - OregonLive.com

"It's very frustrating for patients and for researchers that there hasn't been significant advances in ovarian cancer," says Dr. Tanja Pejovic, a gynecologic oncologist and associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University......Pejovic's group at OHSU is among those seeking to understand the basic biology as a means to zero in on likely markers of early disease. In a study reported in December, the group monitored the action of 69 genes in cells that make up the ovarian surface epithelium. They identified a set of genes that appear to become more active as cells progress from normal to cancerous......"We are still trying to understand early events," she says. But Pejovic remains optimistic."We have to understand early events to the point where it can lead us to markers that circulate in the blood."