Although early studies suggested that ErbB4 expression is either absent or decreased in some ovarian cancers when compared with normal ovarian tissues (Scoccia et al, 1998; Srinivasan et al, 1998), recent investigations using either IHC, RT–PCR, or western blotting techniques have demonstrated the presence of ErbB4 in a high percentage of ovarian tumours (Gilmour et al, 2001; Pejovic et al, 2009), and RT–PCR has detected at least four different ErbB4 splice variants in both established and primary ovarian cancer cell lines (Gilmour et al, 2001). The gene discussed is ERBB4; the disease is ovarian neoplasm.