Definition:

Fallopian tube cancer is a rare, aggressive gynecologic malignancy. Recent genetic and immunohistochemical studies strongly suggest that high-grade serous adenocarcinoma (SAC) involving the ovary likely arises from distal fallopian tube epithelium, indicating that some ovarian cancers develop in the fallopian tube and are then spread to the ovary. Fallopian tube cancers are similar to ovarian cancer with respect to the proportion of tumors with abnormal expression of c-erbB-2 and p53. It has been proposed that the p53 signature is the earliest step in the pathogenesis of fallopian tube cancer. In this model, tubal epithelium on the fimbria experiences genotoxic damage and, as a result, the secretory cell exhibits over-accumulation of p53 protein (p53 signature). There is also some evidence that BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 mutations and c-myc have a major role in tumorgenesis.