Transcription factors (TFs) are major contributors to cancer risk and somatic development. In preclinical and clinical studies, direct or indirect inhibition of TF-mediated oncogenic gene expression profiles have proven to be effective in many tumor types, highlighting this group of proteins as valuable therapeutic targets. In spite of this, our understanding of TFs in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is relatively limited. EOC is a heterogeneous disease composed of five major histologic subtypes; high-grade serous, low-grade serous, endometrioid, clear cell and mucinous. Each histology is associated with unique clinical etiologies, sensitivity to therapies, and molecular signatures - including diverse transcriptional regulatory programs. While some TFs are shared across EOC subtypes, a set of TFs are expressed in a histotype-specific manner and likely explain part of the histologic diversity of EOC subtypes. Targeting TFs present with unique opportunities for development of novel precision medicine strategies for ovarian cancer. This article reviews the critical TFs in EOC subtypes and highlights the potential of exploiting TFs as biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

转录因子 (TFs) 是癌症风险和体细胞发育的主要因素。在临床前和临床研究中，直接或间接抑制 TF 介导的致癌基因表达谱已被证明对许多肿瘤类型有效，这突出了这组蛋白质作为有价值的治疗靶点。尽管如此，我们对上皮性卵巢癌 (EOC) 中 TFs 的了解相对有限。EOC 是一种异质性疾病，由五种主要的组织学亚型组成；高级别浆液、低级别浆液、子宫内膜样、透明细胞和粘液。每种组织学都与独特的临床病因、对治疗的敏感性和分子特征有关——包括不同的转录调控程序。虽然一些 TF 在 EOC 子类型之间共享，一组 TF 以特定于组织型的方式表达，可能解释了 EOC 亚型的部分组织学多样性。靶向 TF 为开发卵巢癌的新型精准医学策略提供了独特的机会。本文回顾了 EOC 亚型中的关键 TF，并强调了将 TF 作为生物标志物和治疗靶点的潜力。