In primary tumours, mRNA ISH showed expression of CCL2 in an average of 1.4% of cells in 23 out of 26 primary ovarian tumours, and ELISA detected CCL2 protein in ascites from ovarian cancer patients with a mean level of 4.28 ng ml−1 (Negus et al, 1995). This evidence concerns the gene CCL2 and ovarian carcinoma.