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Journal articleFlanagan JM, Wilson A, Koo C, et al., 2017,
Platinum-based chemotherapy induces methylation changes in blood DNA associated with overall survival in ovarian cancer patients
, Clinical Cancer Research, Vol: 23, Pages: 2213-2222, ISSN: 1557-3265PURPOSE: DNA damage repair can lead to epigenetic changes. DNA mismatch repair proteins bind to platinum DNA adducts and at sites of DNA damage can recruit the DNA methylating enzyme DNMT1, resulting in aberrant methylation. We hypothesised that DNA damage repair during platinum-based chemotherapy may cause aberrant DNA methylation in normal tissues of patients such as blood. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We used Illumina 450k methylation arrays and bisulphite pyrosequencing to investigate methylation at presentation and relapse in blood DNA from ovarian cancer patients enrolled in the SCOTROC1 trial (n=247) and in a cohort of ovarian tumour DNA samples collected at first relapse (n=46). We used an ovarian cancer cell line model to investigate the role of the DNA mismatch repair gene MLH1 in platinum induced methylation changes. RESULTS: Specific CpG methylation changes in blood at relapse are observed following platinum-based chemotherapy and are associated with patient survival, independent of other clinical factors (HR=3.7; 95%CI 1.8-7.6, p=2.8x10-4). Similar changes occur in ovarian tumours at relapse, also associate with patient survival (HR=2.6; 95%CI 1.0-6.8, p=0.048). Using an ovarian cancer cell line model, we demonstrate that functional mismatch repair (MMR) increases the frequency of platinum-induced methylation. CONCLUSION: DNA methylation in blood at relapse following chemotherapy, and not at presentation, is informative about ovarian cancer patient survival. Functional DNA mismatch repair increases the frequency of DNA methylation changes induced by platinum. DNA methylation in blood following chemotherapy could provide a non-invasive means of monitoring patients' epigenetic responses to treatment without requiring a tumour biopsy.
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Journal articleFotopoulou C, Sehouli J, Aletti G, et al., 2017,
Value of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer: a European perspective.
, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol: 35, Pages: 587-590, ISSN: 1527-7755 -
Journal articleChatterjee J, Dai W, Abd Aziz NH, et al., 2016,
Clinical use of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) expression as discriminatory and predictive markers in ovarian cancer
, Clinical Cancer Research, Vol: 23, Pages: 3453-3460, ISSN: 1557-3265Purpose We aimed to establish whether PD-1 and PD-L1 expression, in ovarian cancer (OC) tumour tissue and blood, could be used as biomarkers for discrimination of tumour histology and prognosis of OC. Experimental Design Immune cells were separated from blood, ascites and tumour tissue obtained from women with suspected OC and studied for the differential expression of possible immune biomarkers using flow cytometry. PD-L1 expression on tumour associated inflammatory cells was assessed by immunohistochemistry and tissue microarray. Plasma soluble PD-L1 was measured using sandwich ELISA. The relationships among immune markers were explored using hierarchical cluster analyses. Results Biomarkers from the discovery cohort that associated with PD-L1+ cells were found. PD-L1+ CD14+ cells and PD-L1+ CD11c+ cells in the monocyte gate showed a distinct expression pattern when comparing benign tumours and epithelial ovarian cancers (EOC) - confirmed in the validation cohort. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed PD-L1+ and PD-L1+ CD14+ cells in the monocyte gate performed better than the well-established tumour marker CA-125 alone. Plasma soluble PD-L1 was elevated in EOC patients compared to healthy women and patients with benign ovarian tumours. Low total PD-1+ expression on lymphocytes was associated with improved survival. Conclusions Differential expression of immunological markers relating to the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in blood can be used as potential diagnostic and prognostic markers in EOC. These data have implications for the development and trial of anti PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in ovarian cancer.
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Journal articleAmoroso MR, Matassa DS, Agliarulo I, et al., 2016,
TRAP1 downregulation in human ovarian cancer enhances invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition
, Cell Death & Disease, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2041-4889Ovarian cancer (OC) is the second leading cause of gynecological cancer death worldwide. Although the list of biomarkers is still growing, molecular mechanisms involved in OC development and progression remain elusive. We recently demonstrated that lower expression of the molecular chaperone TRAP1 in OC patients correlates with higher tumor grade and stage, and platinum resistance. Herein we show that TRAP1 is often deleted in high-grade serous OC patients (N=579), and that TRAP1 expression is correlated with the copy number, suggesting this could be one of the driving mechanisms for the loss of TRAP1 expression in OC. At molecular level, downregulation of TRAP1 associates with higher expression of p70S6K, a kinase frequently active in OC with emerging roles in cell migration and tumor metastasis. Indeed, TRAP1 silencing in different OC cells induces upregulation of p70S6K expression and activity, enhancement of cell motility and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Consistently, in a large cohort of OC patients, TRAP1 expression is reduced in tumor metastases and directly correlates with the epithelial marker E-Cadherin, whereas it inversely correlates with the transcription factor Slug and the matrix metallopeptidases 2 and 9. Strikingly, pharmacological inhibition of p70S6K reverts the high motility phenotype of TRAP1 knock-down cells. However, although p70S6K inhibition or silencing reduces the expression of the transcription factors Snail and Slug, thus inducing upregulation of E-Cadherin expression, it is unable to revert EMT induced by TRAP1 silencing; furthermore, p70S6K did not show any significant correlation with EMT genes in patients, nor with overall survival or tumor stage, suggesting an independent and predominant role for TRAP1 in OC progression. Altogether, these results may provide novel approaches in OC with reduced TRAP1 expression, which could be resistant to therapeutic strategies based on the inhibition of the p70S6K pathway, with po
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Journal articleDoria ML, McKenzie JS, Mroz A, et al., 2016,
Epithelial ovarian carcinoma diagnosis by desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging
, Scientific Reports, Vol: 6, ISSN: 2045-2322Ovarian cancer is highly prevalent among European women, and is the leading cause of gynaecological cancer death. Current histopathological diagnoses of tumour severity are based on interpretation of, for example, immunohistochemical staining. Desorption electrospray mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) generates spatially resolved metabolic profiles of tissues and supports an objective investigation of tumour biology. In this study, various ovarian tissue types were analysed by DESI-MSI and co-registered with their corresponding haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained images. The mass spectral data reveal tissue type-dependent lipid profiles which are consistent across the n = 110 samples (n = 107 patients) used in this study. Multivariate statistical methods were used to classify samples and identify molecular features discriminating between tissue types. Three main groups of samples (epithelial ovarian carcinoma, borderline ovarian tumours, normal ovarian stroma) were compared as were the carcinoma histotypes (serous, endometrioid, clear cell). Classification rates >84% were achieved for all analyses, and variables differing statistically between groups were determined and putatively identified. The changes noted in various lipid types help to provide a context in terms of tumour biochemistry. The classification of unseen samples demonstrates the capability of DESI-MSI to characterise ovarian samples and to overcome existing limitations in classical histopathology.
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Journal articleLangdon SP, Gourley C, Gabra H, et al., 2016,
Endocrine therapy in epithelial ovarian cancer
, Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, Vol: 17, Pages: 109-117, ISSN: 1744-8328INTRODUCTION: The estrogen receptor (ER) is expressed at high levels in many epithelial ovarian cancers (EOC) and represents a potential target for endocrine therapy. Both anti-estrogens and aromatase inhibitors have been evaluated in phase II clinical trials. Areas covered: We present an overview of the phase II and phase III trials of anti-estrogens (tamoxifen and fulvestrant) and aromatase inhibitors (letrozole, anastrazole and exemestane) undertaken in epithelial ovarian cancer identified through a Pubmed search. We describe predictive biomarkers that are being investigated to identify responsive cancers. Expert commentary: The efficacy of endocrine therapy in epithelial ovarian cancer is likely to be confined to histological subtypes with the highest ER expression while low grade serous ovarian cancer appears to be one subgroup with good sensitivity to these agents. The low toxicity profile of these agents is favourable although their use is unlicensed and the optimal setting undefined. Prospective clinical trials of endocrine agents in the early relapse and maintenance settings are urgently required to establish their definitive role in the management of epithelial ovarian cancer.
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Journal articleWahba J, Natoli M, Whilding L, et al., 2016,
Synergistic immuno-chemotherapy for ovarian cancer
, BJOG-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Vol: 123, Pages: E6-E7, ISSN: 1470-0328 -
Journal articleBrown R, Kandil S, Sundriyal S, et al., 2016,
Synergy in reversing platinum resistance by combined inhibition of EZH2 and EHMT1/2
, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER, Vol: 69, Pages: S74-S74, ISSN: 0959-8049 -
Conference paperPhelps DL, Balog J, El-Bahrawy M, et al., 2016,
Diagnosis of borderline ovarian tumours by rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry (REIMS) using the surgical intelligent knife (iKnife)
, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - Blair Bell Academic Meeting, Publisher: Wiley, Pages: e4-e4 -
Journal articleAntony J, Tan TZ, Kelly Z, et al., 2016,
The GAS6-AXL signaling network is a mesenchymal (Mes) molecular subtype-specific therapeutic target for ovarian cancer
, Science Signaling, Vol: 9, ISSN: 1945-0877Ovarian cancer is a complex disease with heterogeneity among the gene expression molecular subtypes (GEMS) between patients. Patients with tumors of a mesenchymal (“Mes”) subtype have a poorer prognosis than patients with tumors of an epithelial (“Epi”) subtype. We evaluated GEMS of ovarian cancer patients for molecular signaling profiles and assessed how the differences in these profiles could be leveraged to improve patient clinical outcome. Kinome enrichment analysis identified AXL as a particularly abundant kinase in Mes-subtype tumor tissue and cell lines. In Mes cells, upon activation by its ligand GAS6, AXL coclustered with and transactivated the receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) cMET, EGFR, and HER2, producing sustained extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) activation. In Epi-A cells, AXL was less abundant and induced a transient activation of ERK without evidence of RTK transactivation. AXL-RTK crosstalk also stimulated sustained activation of the transcription factor FRA1, which correlated with the induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)–associated transcription factor SLUG and stimulation of motility exclusively in Mes-subtype cells. The AXL inhibitor R428 attenuated RTK and ERK activation and reduced cell motility in Mes cells in culture and reduced tumor growth in a chick chorioallantoic membrane model. A higher concentration of R428 was needed to inhibit ERK activation and cell motility in Epi-A cells. Silencing AXL in Mes-subtype cells reversed the mesenchymal phenotype in culture and abolished tumor formation in an orthotopic xenograft mouse model. Thus, AXL-targeted therapy may improve clinical outcome for patients with Mes-subtype ovarian cancer.
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