Clinical features of long-term survivors of recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer

The Poor Prognosis of Acquired Secondary Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer Patients

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to evaluate response to treatment and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer patients with acquired secondary platinum resistance (SPR) compared to patients with primary platinum resistance (PPR).

METHODS

Patients were categorized as PPR (patients with disease recurrence occurring during or <6 months after completing first-line platinum-based chemotherapy) and SPR (patients with previously platinum-sensitive disease that developed platinum resistance on subsequent treatments). Clinico-pathological variables and treatment outcomes were compared.

RESULTS

Of the 118 patients included in this study, 60 had PPR and 58 developed SPR. The SPR women had a significantly higher rate of optimal debulking during their upfront and interval operations, significantly lower CA-125 levels during their primary treatment, and a significantly higher complete and partial response rate to primary chemotherapy. Once platinum resistance appeared, no significant difference in survival was observed between the two groups. The median PFS was 2 months in the PPR group and 0.83 months in the SPR group (p = 0.085). Also, no significant difference was found in post-platinum-resistant relapse survival, with a median of 17.63 months in the PPR and 20.26 months in the SPR group (p = 0.515).

CONCLUSIONS

Platinum resistance is an important prognostic factor in women with EOC. Patients with SPR acquire the same poor treatment outcome as with PPR. There is a great need for future research efforts to discover novel strategies and biological treatments to reverse resistance and improve survival.

Prognosis and conditional survival among women with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVE

An important question in determining long-term prognosis for women with ovarian cancer is whether risk of death changes the longer a woman lives. Large real-world datasets permit assessment of conditional survival (CS) given both prior overall survival (OS) and real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS).

METHODS

Using a longitudinal dataset from US oncology centers, this study included 6778 women with ovarian cancer. We calculated CS rates as the Kaplan-Meier probability of surviving an additional 1 or 5 years, given no mortality (OS) or disease progression (rwPFS) event in the previous 0.5-5 years since first-line chemotherapy initiation, adjusted for factors associated with OS based on multivariable Cox regression.

RESULTS

Median study follow-up was 9 years (range, 1-44) from first-line initiation to data cutoff (17-Feb-2021). Median OS was 58.0 months (95% CI, 54.9-60.8); median rwPFS was 18.4 months (17.4-19.4). The adjusted 1-year CS rate (ie, rate of 1 year additional survival) did not vary based on time alive, whereas the adjusted 5-year CS rate increased from 48.5% (47.0%-50.1%) for women who had already survived 6 months to 66.4% (63.3%-69.6%) for those already surviving 5 years (thus surviving 10 years total). The adjusted 1-year CS rate increased from 90.4% (89.5%-91.4%) with no rwPFS event at 6 months to 97.6% (96.4%-98.8%) with no rwPFS event at 5 years; adjusted 5-year CS rate increased from 53.7% (52.0%-55.5%) to 85.0% (81.2%-88.9%), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis extends the concept of CS by also conditioning on time progression-free. Patients with longer rwPFS experience longer survival than patients with shorter rwPFS.

The Efficacy and Safety of Pazopanib Plus Chemotherapy in Treating Recurrent or Persistent Ovarian Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Patients with recurrent or persistent ovarian cancer often have poor prognoses, and their optimal treatment regimen remains unclear. Inhibition of angiogenesis is a valuable strategy for treating ovarian cancer, and the drug pazopanib is a potent, multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor. However, treatment with pazopanib in combination with chemotherapy remains controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the efficacy and side effects of pazopanib combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.

METHODS

The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were systematically searched for relevant randomized controlled trials published up to September 2, 2022. The primary outcomes of eligible studies included overall response rate (ORR), disease control rate, 1-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate, 2-year PFS rate, 1-year overall survival (OS) rate, 2-year OS rate, and adverse events.

RESULT

Outcomes from a total of 518 recurrent or persistent ovarian cancer patients from 5 studies were analyzed in this systematic review. Pooled results showed that pazopanib plus chemotherapy, when compared with chemotherapy alone, significantly improved the ORR (pooled risk ratio=1.400; 95% CI, 1.062-1.846; P = 0.017) but not the disease control rate, 1-year PFS, 2-year PFS, 1-year OS, or 2-year OS. Moreover, pazopanib increased the risk of neutropenia, hypertension, fatigue, and liver dysfunction.

CONCLUSION

Pazopanib plus chemotherapy improved patient ORR but did not improve survival; it also increased the occurrence of several adverse events. Further large-sample clinical trials are needed to verify these results to guide pazopanib use in patients with ovarian cancer.

Who are the long-term survivors of recurrent ovarian carcinoma?: a retrospective analysis of a multicenter study

BACKGROUND

The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence and hallmarks of long-term survivors of recurrent ovarian carcinoma (LTSROC) in a large-scale retrospective cohort of patients from a multicenter study group.

METHODS

We performed a regional multicenter retrospective study between January 1986 and September 2021 using clinical data collected under the central pathological review system. Patients who underwent surgery for primary OC at diagnosis and developed recurrent tumors after the initial treatment were included. We defined LTSROC as patients who survived for 5 years or longer after initial tumor recurrence and examined factors affecting the long-term survival of ROC and outcomes of LTSROC.

RESULTS

We collected information on patients with malignant ovarian tumors and finally 657 of them that developed ROC were included in the study population. Sixty-eight (10.4%) patients were LTSROC while 399 (60.7%) were short-term survivors of recurrent ovarian carcinoma. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, negative ascites cytology [odds ratio (OR) 1.865; 95% CI 1.026-3.393; p = 0.041] and a recurrence-free interval (RFI) of 1 year or longer (OR 2.896; 95% CI 1.546-5.425; p < 0.001) were identified as independent factors associated with LTSROC. Approximately 80% of LTSROC presented with solitary recurrent tumors. Furthermore, more than 50% of LTSROC underwent tumor debulking surgery for the first recurrent tumor with or without chemotherapy.

CONCLUSION

RFI of 1 year or longer and negative ascites cytology in the initial surgery were identified as independent predictive factors for LTSROC.

Anti-Angiogenesis Maintenance Therapy in Newly Diagnosed and Relapsed Ovarian Cancer: A Meta-analysis of Phase III Randomized Controlled Trials

Aim: Anti-angiogenesis agents have been added as maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer over the past decade. The aim of this meta-analysis was to analyze the efficacy of anti-angiogenesis therapy in newly diagnosed and relapsed ovarian cancer. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched for all phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the efficacy and toxicity of anti-angiogenesis agents in ovarian cancer. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-angiogenesis therapy in ovarian cancer. Results: A total of 6097 patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer from 5 phase III RCTs and 2943 patients with relapsed ovarian cancer from 6 phase III RCTs were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that anti-angiogenesis maintenance therapy significantly improved PFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76-0.93; p = 0.001), but not OS (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91-1.05; p = 0.49) compared with placebo in patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer. In patients with relapsed ovarian cancer, the pooled results showed a significant improvement on OS (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.82-0.98; p = 0.02) and PFS (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.52-0.72; p < 0.001). The pooled results also showed that the anti-angiogenesis agents were associated with an increase in the occurrence of severe hypertension, neutropenia, diarrhea, thrombocytopenia, headache, and bleeding in ovarian cancer. However, infrequent fatal adverse events occurred in the anti-angiogenesis groups. Conclusions: Study results suggest that anti-angiogenesis agents were an effective therapy for newly diagnosed and relapsed ovarian cancer, especially for relapsed ovarian cancer. Anti-angiogenesis agents may be associated with some severe but not fatal adverse events. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42021283647.

Prognostic Significance of Systematic Lymphadenectomy in Patients With Optimally Debulked Advanced Ovarian Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Background: The effect of systematic lymphadenectomy (SL) on survival in patients with optimally debulked advanced ovarian cancer remains unclear. We evaluated the therapeutic value of SL in advanced ovarian cancer patients who underwent primary optimal debulking surgery.

Methods: A meta-analysis was carried out using articles retrieved from the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared between patients who underwent SL and those who underwent unsystematic lymphadenectomy (USL).

Results: Seven studies that included 2,425 patients with advanced ovarian cancer were included in the meta-analysis. The overall analyses indicated significantly improved OS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.49–0.84, P < 0.01] but not PFS (HR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.69–1.15, P = 0.38) in patients who underwent SL compared to those who underwent USL. Subgroup analyses based on study type, study quality, total numbers of patients, and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage provided similar results. However, subgroup analysis of patients with no residual tumor revealed that SL was not associated with improved OS (HR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.66–1.00, P = 0.05) or PFS (HR = 1.09, 95% CI: 0.91–1.30, P = 0.33).

Conclusions: In patients with optimally debulked advanced ovarian cancer, SL may improve OS but not PFS. However, SL does not provide a survival advantage when macroscopically complete resection of all visible tumors is achieved.

Intraperitoneal α-Emitting Radioimmunotherapy with 211At in Relapsed Ovarian Cancer: Long-Term Follow-up with Individual Absorbed Dose Estimations

Eliminating microscopic residual disease with α-particle radiation is theoretically appealing. After extensive preclinical work with α-particle-emitting ²¹¹At, we performed a phase I trial with intraperitoneal α-particle therapy in epithelial ovarian cancer using ²¹¹At conjugated to MX35, the antigen-binding fragments-F(ab')₂-of a mouse monoclonal antibody. We now present clinical outcome data and toxicity in a long-term follow-up with individual absorbed dose estimations. Methods: Twelve patients with relapsed epithelial ovarian cancer, achieving a second complete or nearly complete response with chemotherapy, received intraperitoneal treatment with escalating (20-215 MBq/L) activity concentrations of ²¹¹At-MX35 F(ab')_2. Results: The activity concentration was escalated to 215 MBq/L without any dose-limiting toxicities. Most toxicities were low-grade and likely related to the treatment procedure, not clearly linked to the α-particle irradiation, with no observed hematologic toxicity. One grade 3 fatigue and 1 grade 4 intestinal perforation during catheter implantation were observed. Four patients had a survival of more than 6 y, one of whom did not relapse. At progression, chemotherapy was given without signs of reduced tolerability. Overall median survival was 35 mo, with a 1-, 2-, 5-, and 10-y survival of 100%, 83%, 50%, and 25%, respectively. Calculations of the absorbed doses showed that a lower specific activity is associated with a lower single-cell dose, whereas a high specific activity may result in a lower central dose in microtumors. Individual differences in absorbed dose to possible microtumors were due to variations in administered activity and the specific activity. Conclusion: No apparent signs of radiation-induced toxicity or decreased tolerance to relapse therapy were observed. The dosimetric calculations show that further optimization is advisable to increase the efficacy and reduce possible long-term toxicity.

Long-term survival in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer following cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)

OBJECTIVE

Despite a high response rate to first-line therapy, prognosis of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) remains poor. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of long-term survivors and to identify the prognostic factors associated with long-term survival in a French cohort of 566 patients.

METHODS

Patients treated with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for EOC in 13 French centers between 1991 and 2010 were included. Long-term survivors were defined as patients who survived more than 5 years after HIPEC and CRS, irrespective of relapse.

RESULTS

Seventy-eight long-term survivors were analyzed. The median follow-up was 74 months. Median age at the time of first HIPEC was 55.4 years (range [22.6-77.6]. Seven patients had advanced EOC and 71 patients had recurrent EOC (37 patients had platinum-resistant EOC and 32 had platinum-sensitive disease). More than half of the long-term survivors had high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). In univariate analysis, age ≥50 years (p = .004), peritoneal cancer index (PCI) ≤ 8 (p = .049) and CA-125 < 100 (p = .02) were associated with long-term survival. There was a trend towards an association between higher CC-score and long-term survival (p = .057).

CONCLUSION

Age ≥50 years, PCI ≤8 and CA125 < 100 were associated with long-term survival in univariate analysis. There was a trend towards the significance of CC-score. Platinum-status was not associated with long-term survival.

Nanog interaction with the androgen receptor signaling axis induce ovarian cancer stem cell regulation: studies based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system

Background

Ovarian cancer stem cells (OCSCs) contribute to the poor prognosis of ovarian cancer. Involvement of the androgen receptor (AR) in the malignant behaviors of other tumors has been reported. However, whether AR associates with Nanog (a stem cell marker) and participates in OCSC functions remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the interaction of Nanog with AR and examined whether this interaction induced stem-like properties in ovarian cancer cells.

Methods

AR and Nanog expression in ovarian tumors was evaluated. Using the CRISPR/Cas9 system, we constructed a Nanog green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker cell model to investigate the expression and co-localization of Nanog and AR. Then, we examined the effect of androgen on the Nanog promoter in ovarian cancer cell lines (A2780 and SKOV3). After androgen or anti-androgen treatment, cell proliferation, migration, sphere formation, colony formation and tumorigenesis were assessed in vitro and in vivo.

Results

Both AR and Nanog expression were obviously high in ovarian tumors. Our results showed that Nanog expression was correlated with AR expression. The androgen 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) activated Nanog promoter transcription. Meanwhile, Nanog GFP-positive cells treated with DHT exhibited higher levels of proliferation, migration, sphere formation and colony formation. We also observed that the tumorigenesis of Nanog GFP-positive cells was significantly higher than that of the GFP-negative cells. Xenografts of Nanog GFP-positive cells showed significant differences when treated with androgen or anti-androgen drugs in vivo.

Conclusions

The interaction of Nanog with the AR signaling axis might induce or contribute to OCSC regulation. In addition, androgen might promote stemness characteristics in ovarian cancer cells by activating the Nanog promoter. This finding merits further study because it may provide a new understanding of OCSC regulation from a hormone perspective and lead to the reevaluation of stem cell therapy for ovarian cancer.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13048-018-0403-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Who are the long-term survivors of high grade serous ovarian cancer?

Although the median survival for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is <5years, approximately 15% of patients will survive for >10years. A better understanding of these exceptional responders could reveal opportunities to improve the dismal prognosis of most EOC patients. In this review, we examine the clinical and genomic features that have been associated with long-term survival, which is generally defined as survival of >7-10years after initial diagnosis. Clinical features influencing long-term survival have been best reported in large retrospective population-based studies. These studies find that long-term survival is associated with previously validated prognostic factors, including younger age at diagnosis, earlier clinicopathologic stage, lower grade, non-serous histology, absence of ascites, primary debulking surgery, and optimal cytoreduction at primary surgery. Duration of survival after a recurrence also contributes to long-term survival and depends both on recurrence location and response to subsequent chemotherapy or surgery. Germline BRCA mutations, although associated with short-term chemosensitivity, do not appear to improve long-term survival. Unfortunately, the relative lack of recurrent somatic mutations in EOC has made the identification of genomic signatures associated with long-term survival difficult. Although six independent gene expression analyses of long-term survivors (LTS) have identified signatures associated with prolonged survival, different gene sets are identified in each study. Genes differentially expressed in tumors of LTS are broadly involved in cell proliferation, tumor-stromal interactions, the cytoskeleton, metabolism of nutrients, and immune/stress response. We anticipate that consistent selection of control and LTS groups, combined with the use of emerging transcriptomic, epigenomic, and proteomic platforms, is likely to identify conserved features associated with long-term survival. Further elucidating the factors contributing to long-term survival has the potential to contribute to our understanding of the biology of ovarian cancer, with the goal of improving the survival of all EOC patients.

Impact of lymphadenectomy on survival after recurrence in patients with advanced ovarian cancer without suspected lymph node metastasis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the impact of pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy during primary debulking surgery (PDS) on recurrence pattern and survival after recurrence in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) without suspected lymph node (LN) metastasis in preoperative imaging studies and intraoperative findings.

METHODS

A retrospective review of patients with FIGO stage III and IV EOC without suspected lymph node metastasis was performed. Patients with stage III EOC due to LN metastasis without peritoneal disease were excluded from this study. Survival comparisons for progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and survival after recurrence were performed between patients with or without lymphadenectomy.

RESULTS

Of the 261 EOC patients fulfilling inclusion criteria, 194 (74.3%) experienced relapse and a further 132 (50.6%) died within a median follow-up period of 48months (range, 6-139months). Patterns of recurrence and CA-125 level at recurrence were not different between patients with lymphadenectomy and without lymphadenectomy; however, patients with lymphadenectomy showed longer survival after recurrence than those without lymphadenectomy (43 vs. 32months, p=0.013). This difference was pronounced in the group with residual tumor <1cm (48 vs. 30months, p=0.010). The survival advantage of lymphadenectomy after recurrence remained significant in multivariate analysis (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.38-0.84, p=0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

Lymphadenectomy during PDS was associated with longer survival, especially survival after recurrence. The underlying mechanism should be elucidated in future studies.