Caroline O. Michie

PURPOSE: To analyze the effect of germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 on mortality in patients with ovarian cancer up to 10 years after diagnosis. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We used unpublished survival time data for 2,242 patients from two case-control studies and extended survival time data for 4,314 patients from previously reported studies. All participants had been screened for deleterious germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. Survival time was analyzed for the combined data using Cox proportional hazard models with BRCA1 and BRCA2 as time-varying covariates. Competing risks were analyzed using Fine and Gray model. RESULTS: The combined 10-year overall survival rate was 30% [95% confidence interval (CI), 28%-31%] for non-carriers, 25% (95% CI, 22%-28%) for BRCA1 carriers, and 35% (95% CI, 30%-41%) for BRCA2 carriers. The HR for BRCA1 was 0.53 at time zero and increased over time becoming greater than one at 4.8 years. For BRCA2, the HR was 0.42 at time zero and increased over time (predicted to become greater than 1 at 10.5 years). The results were similar when restricted to 3,202 patients with high-grade serous tumors and to ovarian cancer-specific mortality. CONCLUSIONS: BRCA1/2 mutations are associated with better short-term survival, but this advantage decreases over time and in BRCA1 carriers is eventually reversed. This may have important implications for therapy of both primary and relapsed disease and for analysis of long-term survival in clinical trials of new agents, particularly those that are effective in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers.

5502 Background: HGSOC is a histopathological diagnosis and may represent multiple diseases at a molecular level. We investigated whether distinct molecular subgroups may influence treatment choice. Methods: mRNA was extracted from 265 macrodissected formalin fixed paraffin embedded HGSOCs from Scottish patients (pts) treated with primary debulking then platinum based chemotherapy. Transcriptional analysis was performed using the Ovarian DSA microarray. This was repeated using 283 UK samples from the ICON7 study [first line paclitaxel/carboplatin +/- concomitant and maintenance bevacizumab (bev) for 12 months]. Results: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering (Scottish tumours) identified three major subgroups, two with angiogenic gene upregulation and one with angiogenic gene repression and immune gene upregulation. This latter ‘immune’ subgroup had a superior overall survival (OS) compared to the other two subgroups combined [HR = 0.66 (0.46-0.94)]. A 63-gene expression signature to prospectively identify this subgroup was generated and validated as prognostic for OS in an independent dataset [HR = 0.32 (0.19-0.54)]. As the immune subgroup had repressed angiogenesis-related gene expression we hypothesised that these pts would benefit less from bev [power to detect interaction > 2 in predicted direction for progression free survival (PFS) in ICON7 was 88% (α=0.1, one-tail)]. In ICON7 the gene signature showed a difference in impact of bev on PFS between the immune and proangiogenic subgroups (1-sided test for interaction, p=0.016). For the immune group (41% of cases), the addition of bev conferred a worse PFS [HR = 1.73 (1.12-2.68)] and OS [HR = 2.00 (1.11-3.61)] compared to chemotherapy alone. In the proangiogenic group there was a non-significant trend to improved PFS for the addition of bev (median 17.4 vs 12.3 months in controls). Conclusions: An immune molecular subgroup of HGSOC has superior survival to other HGSOC. The addition of bev appears to significantly reduce PFS and OS in this subgroup. Patients in the proangiogenic subgroups have a trend towards a PFS benefit from bev. These data suggest a mechanism for stratification of bev therapy and should be validated in additional datasets.

Shear wave elastography (SWE) shows promise as an adjunct to greyscale ultrasound examination in assessing breast masses. In breast cancer, higher lesion stiffness on SWE has been shown to be associated with features of poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to assess whether lesion stiffness at SWE is an independent predictor of lymph node involvement. Patients with invasive breast cancer treated by primary surgery, who had undergone SWE examination were eligible. Data were retrospectively analysed from 396 consecutive patients. The mean stiffness values were obtained using the Aixplorer® ultrasound machine from SuperSonic Imagine Ltd. Measurements were taken from a region of interest positioned over the stiffest part of the abnormality. The average of the mean stiffness value obtained from each of two orthogonal image planes was used for analysis. Associations between lymph node involvement and mean lesion stiffness, invasive cancer size, histologic grade, tumour type, ER expression, HER-2 status and vascular invasion were assessed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. At univariate analysis, invasive size, histologic grade, HER-2 status, vascular invasion, tumour type and mean stiffness were significantly associated with nodal involvement. Nodal involvement rates ranged from 7 % for tumours with mean stiffness <50 kPa to 41 % for tumours with a mean stiffness of >150 kPa. At multivariate analysis, invasive size, tumour type, vascular invasion, and mean stiffness maintained independent significance. Mean stiffness at SWE is an independent predictor of lymph node metastasis and thus can confer prognostic information additional to that provided by conventional preoperative tumour assessment and staging.

BACKGROUND: Novel therapeutic approaches are required to treat ovarian cancer and dependency on glycolysis may provide new targets for treatment. This study sought to investigate the variation of expression of molecular components (GLUT1, HKII, PKM2, LDHA) of the glycolytic pathway in ovarian cancers and the effectiveness of targeting this pathway in ovarian cancer cell lines with inhibitors. METHODS: Expression of GLUT1, HKII, PKM2, LDHA were analysed by quantitative immunofluorescence in a tissue microarray (TMA) analysis of 380 ovarian cancers and associations with clinicopathological features were sought. The effect of glycolysis pathway inhibitors on the growth of a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines was assessed by use of the SRB proliferation assay. Combination studies were undertaken combining these inhibitors with cytotoxic agents. RESULTS: Mean expression levels of GLUT1 and HKII were higher in high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), the most frequently occurring subtype, than in non-HGSOC. GLUT1 expression was also significantly higher in advanced stage (III/IV) ovarian cancer than early stage (I/II) disease. Growth dependency of ovarian cancer cells on glucose was demonstrated in a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines. Inhibitors of the glycolytic pathway (STF31, IOM-1190, 3PO and oxamic acid) attenuated cell proliferation in platinum-sensitive and platinum-resistant HGSOC cell line models in a concentration dependent manner. In combination with either cisplatin or paclitaxel, 3PO (a novel PFKFB3 inhibitor) enhanced the cytotoxic effect in both platinum sensitive and platinum resistant ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, synergy was identified between STF31 (a novel GLUT1 inhibitor) or oxamic acid (an LDH inhibitor) when combined with metformin, an inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in marked inhibition of ovarian cancer cell growth. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study provide further support for targeting the glycolytic pathway in ovarian cancer and several useful combinations were identified.

PURPOSE: To compare the frequency of visceral relapse of BRCA1/2-deficient ovarian cancer to that of nonhereditary controls. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients diagnosed in Scotland with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) or primary peritoneal cancer (PPC) and a germline BRCA1/2 mutation were identified. Those with previous malignancy were excluded. Each remaining patient who experienced relapse was matched with two nonhereditary controls. RESULTS: Seventy-nine patients with EOC/PPC and germline BRCA1/2 mutations were identified. Fifteen had inadequate clinical data, two had carcinosarcoma, 27 had previous breast cancer, and 16 were in remission. Of the remaining 19 patients who were BRCA1/2 deficient, 14 patients (74%) developed visceral metastases compared with six (16%) of 38 patients in the control group. The percentages of liver, lung, and splenic metastases were 53%, 32%, and 32%, respectively, in the patients compared with 5%, 3%, and 5%, respectively, in the controls. When events occurring outside the matched follow-up period were omitted, the percentages of visceral, liver, lung, and splenic metastases were 58%, 42%, 16%, and 32% in the patients compared with 5%, 0%, 0%, and 3% in controls (P < .001, P < .001, P = .066, and P = .011, respectively). In an independent validation set, the corresponding percentages of visceral, liver, lung, and splenic metastases were 63%, 46%, 13%, and 17% in the patients compared with 11%, 4%, 2%, and 2% in controls (P < .001, P < .001, P = .153, and P = .052, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although sporadic EOC commonly remains confined to the peritoneum, BRCA1/2-deficient ovarian cancer frequently metastasizes to viscera. These data extend the ovarian BRCAness phenotype, imply BRCA1/2-deficient ovarian cancer is biologically distinct, and suggest that patients with visceral metastases should be considered for BRCA1/2 sequencing.