Epithelial ovarian cancer is one of the major causes of death among women. The increasing knowledge about molecular events involved in the early stages of ovarian tumorigenesis may provide the basis for management in the future. In a series of 109 patients with epithelial carcinomas in FIGO stages IA-IIC, a number of clinicopathologic prognostic factors (age, FIGO stage, histopathologic type, and tumor grade) were studied in relation to the biologic factors p53, bcl-2, and bax, which are important regulators of apoptosis. Immunohistochemical techniques were used. All the patients received adjuvant chemotherapy after the primary surgery. Univariate analysis showed that expression of p53 was significantly associated with tumor grade (P = 0.014), probability of persistent disease (P = 0.016), and cancer-specific survival rate (P = 0.007). Positive bcl-2 staining was associated with endometrioid tumor subtype (P = 0.029) and a favorable tumor grade distribution (P = 0.034), but not with the survival status. The combined p53-bcl-2 expression was related to histopathologic subtype (P = 0.032), tumor grade (P = 0.011), persistent disease (P = 0.014), and risk of dying due to the disease (P = 0.039). The bax status was not a prognostic factor, but the combined p53-bax expression showed an association with FIGO stage (P = 0.014), tumor grade (P = 0.034), persistent disease (P = 0.006), and risk of dying due to the disease (P = 0.039). The combined bcl-2-bax expression was related to histopathologic subtype (P = 0.045) and tumor grade (P = 0.022). In a multivariate Cox analysis, tumor grade (P = 0.014), and p53 status (P = 0.020) were independent and significant prognostic factors with regard to the cancer-specific survival rate.