Lay summary
Recently, two mouse strains have been identified in which eggs are lost in early life leading to progressive morphological changes, abnormal function and cancers of differing cellular origins. We believe these mouse strains provide valuable and unique models for human ovarian cancer. This study aims to characterise the discrete cellular changes that occur over defined time periods and to assess the activities of multiple candidate genes involved in normal ovarian function and tumour development. Tumours will be classified by microscopy and discrete areas of normal and abnormal (tumour-like) tissues will be isolated by laser micro-dissection from which the activity of more than 30 genes will be measured using state-of-the-art technologies (GeXP). The outcomes from these studies will provide new insights into the development of human ovarian cancers and potentially new diagnostics to aid treatment options.