Tamoxifen use in recurrent ovarian cancer in a Chinese population: A 15 -year clinical experience in a tertiary referral center

Oral Metronomic Therapy: An Effective Palliative Treatment Option for Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Introduction The majority of the patients with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer relapse within three years of standard first-line treatment. Access to novel therapies like poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and antiangiogenic agents is limited in low- and middle-income countries. Oral metronomic therapy (OMT) may be an effective alternative treatment option in resource-limited settings. Materials and methods A retrospective study was conducted among patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who received OMT. OMT consisted of cyclophosphamide 50mg per day and tamoxifen 40mg per day which was administered continuously until unacceptable toxicity or progression was reached. OMT was given to patients with relapsed ovarian cancer and to those newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients who were unfit for cytoreductive surgery and/or standard first-line intravenous platinum-based chemotherapy. All patients who received OMT at our center between 01-01-2017 and 31-12-2021 were included for analysis. Relevant details, as needed for the study, were collected from medical records. SPSS version 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) was used for statistical analysis. Results A total of 61 patients received OMT during the study period. The median age at diagnosis of ovarian cancer was 59 years. The median age at the start of OMT was 61 years. The majority (n= 37, 60.7%) had high-grade serous carcinoma subtype. A total of 52 patients received OMT in the relapse setting while nine received it in the first-line setting. Among relapsed ovarian cancer patients, 13 patients (21.3%) experienced platinum-sensitive relapse, 16 patients (26.2%) experienced partial platinum-sensitive relapse, and 23 patients (37.7%) experienced platinum-resistant disease. The mean duration of treatment with OMT was 7.8 months. The clinical benefit rate was 59% and the overall response rate was 22.9%. Ca-125 response was seen in 40.4% of patients. The median PFS for the overall group was 6.7 months. Median PFS was longer in patients with Ca-125 response and platinum-sensitive relapse. Only five patients (8.1%) had significant toxicity. Conclusion OMT is a safe and effective palliative treatment option for epithelial ovarian cancer, worth consideration in low- and middle-income countries.

Hormone Receptors and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: Recent Advances in Biology and Treatment Options

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a significant cause of cancer-related mortality in women. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, EOC remains a challenging disease to manage, and the 5-year survival rate is still poor. The role of hormone receptors (HRs) in EOC carcinogenesis and prognosis has been actively explored; however, the role of hormone therapy (HT) in the treatment of these tumors is not well established. Most available data on HT mainly come from retrospective series and small early clinical trials. Several of these studies suggest that HT may have a role in adjuvant, maintenance therapy, or in the case of recurrent disease, especially for some subtypes of EOC (e.g., low-grade serous EOC). Furthermore, HT has recently been combined with targeted therapies, but most studies evaluating these combinations are still ongoing. The main aim of this review is to provide an overview of the progress made in the last decade to characterize the biological and prognostic role of HRs for EOC and the developments in their therapeutic targeting through HT.

Four Types of RNA Modification Writer-Related lncRNAs Are Effective Predictors of Prognosis and Immunotherapy Response in Serous Ovarian Carcinoma

Serous ovarian carcinoma (SOC) is a gynecological malignancy with high mortality rates. Currently, there is a lack of reliable biomarkers for accurate SOC patient prognosis. Here, we analyzed SOC RNA-Seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to identify prognostic biomarkers. Through the pearson correlation analysis, univariate Cox regression analysis, and LASSO-penalized Cox regression analysis, we identified nine lncRNAs significantly associated with four types of RNA modification writers (m6A, m1A, APA, and A-I) and with the prognosis of SOC patients (P <0.05). Six writer-related lncRNAs were ultimately selected following multivariate Cox analysis. We established a risk prediction model based on these six lncRNAs and evaluated its prognostic value in multiple groups (training set, testing set, and entire set). Our risk prediction model could effectively predict the prognosis of SOC patients with different clinical characteristics and their responses to immunotherapy. Lastly, we validated the predictive reliability and sensitivity of the lncRNA-based model via a nomogram. This study explored the association between RNA modification writer-related lncRNAs and SOC prognosis, providing a potential complement for the clinical management of SOC patients.

The expression and clinical significance of ERβ/ERα in ovarian cancer: can we predict the effectiveness of platinum plus taxane therapy?

Estrogens play an extremely important role in regulating the proliferation of ovarian cancer. The estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) stimulates cell growth, whereas ERβ can be attributed to tumor suppressors. The study aims to assess the relationship between the expression of estrogen receptors in tumors and the efficacy of front-line platinum plus taxane chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

ERα and ERβ tumor expression was evaluated quantitatively by flow cytometry in a narrowly defined group (31 patients): stage III high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), suboptimal surgical cytoreduction, front-line platinum plus taxane chemotherapy (front-line, six cycles).

RESULTS

The median of progression-free survival (PFS) was 2 times greater (18 vs 8 months, p = 0.04) and the recurrence risk (HR) was 2.2 times (95 % CI: 1.1-6.2, p = 0.04) lower in the group with high (in more than 40% of the cells) vs low level of ERβ tumor expression. The statistically significant difference between PFS in the groups with high vs low tumor ERα expression was not revealed.

CONCLUSION

A high level of ERβ and not ERα expression can predict the efficacy of front-line platinum plus taxane chemotherapy in stage III HGSOC patients. The status of estrogen receptor beta can be considered as one of the possible predictors for evaluating the effectiveness of ovarian cancer therapy.

Tamoxifen use in recurrent ovarian cancer in a Chinese population: A 15 -year clinical experience in a tertiary referral center

Aim

To review the clinical use and the effectiveness of tamoxifen in patients with advanced or recurrent ovarian cancer.

Methods

A retrospective review of clinical records was conducted in patients who received tamoxifen for the treatment of ovarian cancer between 2002 and 2016. We reviewed the clinical setting that it was given, duration of use, patients' tolerability, clinical benefit and progression‐free survival. We also attempted to identify predictive markers for response.

Results

A total of 92 patients received tamoxifen during this 15‐year period. The patients received a median of 2.5 lines of chemotherapy before switching to tamoxifen, and they remained on tamoxifen for a median of 5.6 months (range 0–85 months), with 24 patients receiving it for more than 12 months. Seventy‐six patients continued on tamoxifen for more than 2 months. In this group, 75 patients had an evaluable response, either by CA 125 or clinically and clinical benefit rate (defined as complete, partial response and static disease) was seen in 42 patients (56%), with majority of patients having static disease. The median progression‐free survival was 5.3 months (95% confidence interval, 2.6–8.1). Tamoxifen was well tolerated. Hormone receptor status was not demonstrated to predict response.

Conclusion

Patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have failed previous lines of chemotherapy may achieve static disease with tamoxifen with minimal side effects. Tamoxifen may still have a role in the era of molecular target therapy.