How Specific Types of Ovarian Tumors Guide Treatment Options

Ovarian cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Though early-stage disease is extremely treatable, much of the problem lies in treating more advanced stages. Unfortunately, it's relatively difficult to diagnose, and because of that, there are many women who die every year due to advanced ovarian cancer.

A study sheds light on characteristics of different types of ovarian cancer

Research in ovarian cancer has lacked the funding and support reaped by more high-profile cancers like breast and prostate. However, there has been some new scientific discoveries that may help those who are suffering from this disease. Dr. Julia Elvin, an MD. PhD. who is also the associate medical director and senior pathologist at Foundation Medicine, discusses a recent study investigating characteristics of different subsets of ovarian tumors.

Dr. Elvin recently collaborated with several other researchers to look at a large set of ovarian cancer tumor specimens and study their characteristic genomic expression. The team looked at over 4100 ovarian cancer tumors involving various body structures ranging from the peritoneum or the fallopian tubes. They subjected these cancerous tissues to deeper analysis looking at changes on a molecular level, trying to identify unique molecular signatures within each subgroup of tumors.

The value of genomic profiling

The goal of characterizing subsets of tumor types was to correlate specific markers with certain therapies. The hope is that by identifying a genetic signature or molecular change unique to a type of tumor, we can better correlate a targeted therapy to best eradicate the malignant cells. To do this, Dr. Elvin and her team used comprehensive genomic profiling, which sequences and captures genes from the analysis of all the genetic material inside the cell nucleus. The researchers focused their attention on studying all the cancer-related genes and oncogenes that are already known in the scientific world.

Using cutting-edge technology, the scientists were able to tag all genomic alterations that occurred within these cancer-related genes and oncogenes being studied. Any of the four mutation categories could be detected, which includes insertions of an erroneous DNA base, change of a DNA base to an incorrect one, deletion of DNA, copy number changes, and rearrangement of genetic material. It was incredibly important for the team to achieve this tedious task so that they had a comprehensive, landscape view of what was going on inside the genes of these ovarian tumors.

A genome-wide view of cell repair mechanisms in ovarian cancer

The team was able to monitor for gene mutations in over 300 oncogenes and other cancer-related genes within these ovarian tumor specimens. After collecting this preliminary information, they were able to take their observations to the second level, where they produced a global, genome-wide landscape view of how well these cells could repair double-strand breakage in genetic material.

Ovarian cancer depends heavily on double-stranded DNA breakage

It turns out that ovarian cancer development relies heavily on this concept of double-stranded DNA breakage. In a process called homologous recombination path, healthy tissue is able to repair these breakages that can occur spontaneously or due to radiation or toxins in the environment. In ovarian tumors, cells have lost this repair mechanism and quickly accumulate many double-stranded breaks.

Read on to learn more about what this means for women living with ovarian cancer.