BACKGROUND: The etiological cause of ovarian cancer is poorly understood. It has been theorized that bacterial or viral infection as well as pelvic inflammatory disease could play a role in ovarian carcinogenesis.

AIM: To review the literature on studies examining the association between ovarian cancer and bacterial or viral infection or pelvic inflammatory disease.

METHODS: Database search through MEDLINE, applying the medical subject headings: "Ovarian neoplasms", AND "Chlamydia infections", "Neisseria gonorrhoeae", "Mycoplasma genitalium", "Papillomaviridae", or "pelvic inflammatory disease". Corresponding searches were performed in EMBASE, and Web of Science. The literature search identified 935 articles of which 40 were eligible for inclusion in this review.

RESULTS: Seven studies examined the association between bacterial infection and ovarian cancer. A single study found a significant association between chlamydial infection and ovarian cancer, while another study identified Mycoplasma genitalium in a large proportion of ovarian cancer cases. The remaining studies found no association. Human papillomavirus detection rates varied from 0 to 67% and were generally higher in the Asian studies than in studies from Western countries. Cytomegalovirus was the only other virus to be detected and was found in 50% of cases in a case-control study. The association between ovarian cancer and pelvic inflammatory disease was examined in seven epidemiological studies, two of which, reported a statistically significant association.

CONCLUSIONS: Data indicate a potential association between pelvic inflammatory disease and ovarian cancer. An association between ovarian cancer and high-risk human papillomavirus genotypes may exist in Asia, whereas an association in Western countries seems unlikely due to the low reported prevalence. Potential carcinogenic bacteria were found, but results were inconsistent, and further research is warranted.