The Prognostic Value of the Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Ovarian Cancer

The hedgehog pathway is a major regulator of cell growth and differentiation during embryogenesis and early development. The literature suggests that variations in this pathway's genes play a role in tumor progression and response to therapy. This study aimed to assess the correlation between the expression levels of selected genes of this pathway and the progression-free and overall survival of ovarian cancer patients. Using the database Kaplan-Meier plotter, which includes the gene expression and survival data of 1565 ovarian cancer patients, higher expression levels of the genes <i>SHH</i>, <i>PTCH1</i>, <i>PTCH2</i>, and <i>GLI1</i> displayed better survival correlations, while <i>GLI</i>, <i>GLI3</i>, and <i>SUFU</i> correlated with adverse outcomes. Further dissection revealed a differential impact of the genes in specific clinical-histopathological categories. Notably, higher expression levels of <i>SUFU</i> were associated with a negative impact on ovarian cancer patients under many clinical-histopathological aspects. These results shed new light on the role of these genes in the chemoresponsiveness of ovarian cancer, especially <i>SUFU</i>, which could be considered a novel indicator for poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer.