We proposed a sequence of events that may link intracellular events (glycolysis, acidic pHi, NOS2 expression) with extracellular medium (alkaline pHo, generation of a proinflammatory microenvironment), i.e. a potential functional link, leading to higher nitric oxide generation in human epithelial ovarian cancer cells (Fig. 2). Here, NOS2 is linked to ovarian carcinoma.