卵巢癌是继子宫癌之后第二常见的妇科癌症类型。 2020年，根据全球统计，卵巢癌新发病例超过313,000例。卵巢癌最令人担忧的是总生存期较差，只有 30% 的患者在诊断后生存时间超过 5 年。这种不良结果的原因包括由于非特异性症状导致诊断较晚以及缺乏卵巢癌早期阶段的任何高效生物标志物。然而，值得注意的是，一些可改变的生活方式因素可以起到预防作用[怀孕、母乳喂养和使用复方口服避孕药 (COCP)]。现在有越来越多的数据报告了表观遗传变化的作用，这些变化在卵巢癌肿瘤中是可以检测到的，表明表观遗传学也可能在长期有效预防卵巢癌的机制中发挥关键作用。据我们所知，尽管已经提出了几种假设，但仍缺乏关于预防卵巢癌的分子机制的高质量数据。本综述重点关注所提出的新假设的证据，即 COCP 通过影响发挥化学预防作用。关于卵巢癌-输卵管上皮细胞起源细胞的表观基因组。© 2023。BioMed Central Ltd.，Springer Nature 旗下公司。

Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer type after uterine cancers. In 2020, according to worldwide statistics, there were more than 313,000 new cases of ovarian cancer. Most concerning with ovarian cancer is the poor overall survival, with only 30% of patients surviving for longer than 5 years after diagnosis. The reason for this poor outcome includes late diagnosis due to non-specific symptoms and a lack of any highly effective biomarkers of the early stages of ovarian carcinogenesis. However, it is important to note that some modifiable lifestyle factors can be preventative [pregnancy, breastfeeding and combined oral contraceptives pill (COCP) use].There is now increasing data reporting the role of epigenetic changes, which are detectable in ovarian cancer tumors, suggesting the possibility that epigenetics may also play a key role in the mechanism of long-term effective prevention of ovarian cancer. To our knowledge, there is a lack of high-quality data on the molecular mechanisms of ovarian cancer prevention, although several hypotheses have been proposed.This review focusses on the evidence for a proposed novel hypothesis-that COCPs act as a chemoprevention through the impact on the epigenome of the cells of origin of ovarian cancer-fallopian tubes epithelium.© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.