Identifying a molecular profile to predict the risk of recurrence in high-intermediate risk endometrial cancer

Fertility-sparing options for cancer patients

Fertility preservation is becoming an integral part of cancer care among women of reproductive age. Despite advances in the treatment of pelvic malignancies, all the currently available treatment approaches, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery, place women at high risk for future fertility impairment. With improved long-term survival rates associated with cancer, expanding the reproductive options available is of high priority. Several fertility preservation options are available today for women with gynecologic and non-gynecologic malignancies. Depending on the underlying oncological entity, these can include the following procedures whether alone or in combination: oocyte cryopreservation, embryo cryopreservation, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, ovarian transposition, and trachelectomy. The purpose of this review is to provide the most up-to-date information on the aforementioned fertility-preserving approaches and highlight the current challenges, drawbacks, and areas of research where more data are still very necessary to optimize outcomes in young female oncological patients desiring pregnancy in the future.

Identifying a molecular profile to predict the risk of recurrence in high-intermediate risk endometrial cancer

Background

Patients with high‐intermediate risk endometrial cancer (H‐IR EMCA) have an elevated risk of recurrence compared to low‐risk counterparts. Many H‐IR EMCA patients are treated with radiation or chemotherapy, but their overall survival is not significantly impacted by treatment. The objective of this study was to compare molecular profiles of H‐IR EMCA patients with disease recurrence to those without to identify characteristics that could better predict patient outcomes.

Methods

Tissue was acquired from H‐IR EMCA patients with disease recurrence (n=15) and without disease recurrence (n=15) who had not received adjuvant therapy and performed DNA and RNA analyses.

Results

In recurrent population, 5 patients had matchingrecurrent and initial tumor tissues. Of note, 5/7 (71%) African Americanpatients had disease recurrence compared to 10/23 (43%) White patients. Inaddition, several new mutations were found in individual patient’s recurrentcompared to initial tumors.

Conclusions

Currently the treatment ofendometrial cancer is rapidly changing with molecular profiling becoming partof the standard of care. Additionally, it and is being incorporated intoclinical trials in this group of patients. The specific gene mutations and RNAexpression signatures that were observed in our small cohort need to bevalidated in larger cohorts to determine their impact.