Introduction to managing patients with recurrent ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the 5th most common cancer found in women in the UK. It is the leading cause of death from gynaecological cancer, and is the 4th most common cause of cancer death among UK women. Similar to the majority of other cancers, relative survival rates for ovarian cancer are improving, although 5-year mortality rates remain stubbornly low. The stage of the disease at diagnosis is the single most important determinant of ovarian cancer survival, as many patients first present with advanced disease. Treatment of ovarian cancer involves a combination of 'upfront' primary surgery followed by chemotherapy. Platinum/taxane-based chemotherapy is the recommended standard-of-care first-line chemotherapy, but the majority of patients will relapse with drug-resistant disease within 3-5 years. However, not all patients can continue with platinum combination therapies due to loss of activity or toxicity-related issues, including hypersensitivity, neurotoxicity, alopecia and ototoxicity. Therefore the choice of second-line chemotherapy must take into account factors such as platinum-free treatment interval (PFI); patient's performance status; current symptoms; history of and likely future toxicities while on chemotherapy; dosing schedule requirement; and cost of treatment. A consensus in 2010 established 4 distinct subgroups within the ROC patient population based on the PFI: (platinum sensitive <12 months, partially platinum sensitive 6-12 months, platinum resistant <6 months, and refractory disease ≤4 weeks). Within patients with platinum sensitive disease, those with partially platinum sensitive disease remain the most clinically challenging to manage effectively. Non-platinum based combination therapies, in particular trabectedin with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD), offers new options together with a significant survival advantage relative to PLD alone for these patients

The role of kinin B[indice inférieur 1] receptor in diabetic hyperalgesia

Autoimmune insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes involves an overproduction of cytokines, including interleukin-1[bêta] (IL-1[bêta]) and tumour necrosis factor-[alpha] (TNF-[alpha]), which leads to T-cell-mediated pancreatic [bêta]-cell destruction. It is associated with a series of complications including nephropathy, retinopathy and painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN). Several neurovascular systems are activated in type 1 diabetes including the inducible bradykinin (BK)B[indice inférieur 1] receptor (BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R) subtype which is generally absent or of little impact in healthy states, but highly induced or over-expressed under pathological conditions among which type 1 diabetes, where the over-production of cytokines, the hyperglycemia and the oxidative stress are critical factors for its up-regulation. The present project aimed at studying the development of hyperalgesia in rodent models of type 1 diabetes and characterising the role of the inducible BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R in this diabetic complication, through the use of selective BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R agonists and antagonists. Nociception was evaluated with two types of thermal pain tests; spinal (tail immersion and tail flick tests) and supra-spinal (hot plate and plantar stimulation) tests. Chemically streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice and rats showed a marked hyperalgesia that was stable over 4 weeks following the STZ injection. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) and BioBreeding/Worcester (BB/Wor) rats, models of autoimmune spontaneous type 1 diabetes, similarly developed significant hyperalgesia over time (4-32 and 4-24 weeks of age, respectively). Hyperalgesia observed in NOD mice and BB/Wor rats did not correlate with hyperglycemia, but rather preceded the increase in the animal plasma glucose concentration. This finding supports the hypothesis that type 1 diabetic complications start early during the progression of the disease, even before the diagnosis of the state of hyperglycemia. The selective BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R agonist, desArg[indice supérieur 9]BK (DBK), which did not affect nociception in control non-diabetic animals, potentiated hyperalgesia in STZ-diabetic and NOD mice. In addition, the acute and chronic administration of the selective BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R antagonists R-715 and R-954 significantly attenuated diabetic hyperalgesia in all tested animals models. Our results also showed that stimulation of the inducible BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R activates several neurotransmitter systems responsible for the mediation of diabetic hyperalgesia including the substance P (SP), nitric oxide (NO) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Nevertheless, the hyperalgesia observed in wild type diabetic mice was totally absent in the BKB[indice inférieur 1]-R-knockout (KO) diabetic mice in which DBK had no effect on nociceptive responses."--Résumé abrégé par UMI

The next steps in improving the outcomes of advanced ovarian cancer

Worldwide ovarian cancer affects over 200,000 women per year. Overall survival rates are poor due to two predominate reasons. First, the majority of patients present with advanced disease creating significant difficulty with effecting disease eradication. Second, acquisition of chemotherapy resistance results in untreatable progressive disease. Advances in treatment of advanced ovarian cancer involve a spectrum of interventions including improvements in frontline debulking surgery and combination chemotherapy. Anti-angiogenic factors have been shown to have activity in frontline and recurrent disease while novel chemotherapeutic agents and targeted treatments are in development particularly for disease that is resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy. These developments aim to improve the progression-free and overall survival of women with advanced ovarian cancer

Response to sunitinib (Sutent) in chemotherapy refractory clear cell ovarian cancer

• Case describes a response to sunitinib in clear cell ovarian cancer. • Discussion of unique molecular characteristics of clear cell ovarian cancers; • Practical points regarding dosing and toxicity when using sunitinib discussed

Continuous 5-fluorouracil in the treatment of breast cancer.

Prolonged infusions of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) have been used since the early 1960s, but recently there has been a major resurgence of interest, partly because of the advent of electronically controlled portable infusion pumps. This paper looks at the published data on continuously infused 5-FU in breast cancer. As a single agent, bolus 5-FU has a response rate of around 25%; this includes many patients in older series who were chemotherapy naive. The overall response rate across all the studies with continuously infused 5-FU is 29%. However, the majority of these patients were heavily pretreated, and response rates of up to 54% have been reported. What is more encouraging is the response rate in combination chemotherapy--even for pretreated patients with metastatic disease, response rates up to 89% have been found. However, this level of benefit brings a new toxicity--palmar--plantar erythrodysaesthesia; and of course myelotoxicity still remains a problem in the combination regimens. Randomised trials to assess the role of infusional 5-FU are now indicated

Weekly doxorubicin and continuous infusional 5-fluorouracil for advanced breast cancer.

Drug scheduling alterations can improve the therapeutic index of both 5-fluorouracil and anthracyclines. We investigated a regimen of weekly doxorubicin and continuous infusional 5-fluorouracil (AcF) in loco-regionally recurrent and metastatic breast cancer. The aims of this phase II study were to use low-dose weekly anthracyclines in a patient group where liver metastases are a frequent problem, to optimise scheduling of 5-fluorouracil using continuous infusion and to conserve alkylating agent use for late intensification in responding patients. Fifty-six patients received 5-fluorouracil 200 mg m-2 day-1 and doxorubicin 20-30 mg m-2 week-1 for at least 6 weeks. Sixty-two percent were chemonaive. Patients were evaluated for dose intensity, response, toxicity and survival. Of the assessable patients, 76% achieved UICC response criteria (20% complete response, 56% partial response). WHO grade 3+ toxicities were: alopecia, 98%; mucositis, 62%; neutropenia, 22%; and grade 3 palmar-plantar syndrome, 24%. Median survival was 13 months, with visceral metastasis conferring a significantly worse outcome (P = 0.03). Grade 3+ mucositis was more frequent with planned doxorubicin dose intensity > or = 25 mg m-2 week-1 (P = 0.04). AcF is highly active in breast cancer with acceptable toxicities and can be used before alkylating agent-based high-dose therapy

Oncologist-led BRCA ‘mainstreaming’ in the ovarian cancer clinic: A study of 255 patients and its impact on their management

Although guidelines recommend BRCA testing for all women with non-mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer, there is significant variability in access to testing across the UK. A germline BRCA mutation (BRCAm) in ovarian cancer patients provides prognostic and predictive information and influences clinical management, such as the use of PARP inhibitors, which have demonstrated a progression-free survival benefit in the BRCAm cohort. Additionally, the finding of a BRCAm has significant implications for patients and their families in terms of cancer risk and prevention. We studied the impact of a newly-formed, oncologist-led ‘mainstreaming’ germline BRCA testing pathway in 255 ovarian cancer patients at Imperial College NHS Trust. Prior to the establishment of ‘mainstreaming’, uptake of germline BRCA testing was 14% with a mean turnaround time of 148.2 calendar days. The ‘mainstreaming’ approach led to a 95% uptake of germline BRCA testing and a mean turnaround time of 20.6 days. Thirty-four (13.33%) BRCAm patients were identified. At the time of data collection nine BRCAm patients had received a PARP inhibitor off-trial, three had entered a PARP inhibitor trial and 5 were receiving platinum-based chemotherapy with a plan to receive PARP inhibitor maintenance. This study provides further evidence of the impact of oncologist-led ‘mainstreaming’ programs

Dynamics of the intratumoral immune response during progression of high-grade serous ovarian cancer

PURPOSE: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have an established impact on the prognosis of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), however, their role in recurrent ovarian cancer is largely unknown. We therefore systematically investigated TIL densities and MHC class I and II (MHC1, 2) expression in the progression of HGSOC. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ TILs and MHC1, 2 expression were evaluated by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays in 113 paired primary and recurrent HGSOC. TILs were quantified by image analysis. All patients had been included to the EU-funded OCTIPS FP7 project. RESULTS: CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ TILs and MHC1 and MHC2 expression showed significant correlations between primary and recurrent tumor levels (Spearman rho 0.427, 0.533, 0.361, 0.456, 0.526 respectively; P<.0001 each). Paired testing revealed higher CD4+ densities and MHC1 expression in recurrent tumors (Wilcoxon P=.034 and P=.018). There was also a shift towards higher CD3+ TILs levels in recurrent carcinomas when analyzing platinum-sensitive tumors only (Wilcoxon P=.026) and in pairs with recurrent tumor tissue from first relapse only (Wilcoxon P=.031). High MHC2 expression was the only parameter to be significantly linked to prolonged progression-free survival after first relapse (PFS2, log-rank P=.012). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study that analyzed the development of TILs density and MHC expression in paired primary and recurrent HGSOC. The level of the antitumoral immune response in recurrent tumors was clearly dependent on the one in the primary tumor. Our data contribute to the understanding of temporal heterogeneity of HGSOC immune microenvironment and have implications for selection of samples for biomarker testing in the setting of immune-targeting therapeutics