Prognostic and Theranostic Biomarkers in Ovarian Clear Cell Carcinoma.

In this study, we aimed to test whether prognostic biomarkers can achieve a clinically relevant stratification of patients with stage I ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) and to survey the expression of 10 selected actionable targets (theranostic biomarkers) in stage II to IV cases. From the population-based Alberta Ovarian Tumor Type study, 160 samples of OCCC were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and/or silver-enhanced in situ hybridization for the status of 5 prognostic (p53, p16, IGF2BP3, CCNE1, FOLR1) and 10 theranostic biomarkers (ALK, BRAF V600E, ERBB2, ER, MET, MMR, PR, ROS1, NTRK1-3, VEGFR2). Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were performed. Cases with abnormal p53 or combined p16/IFG2BP3 abnormal expression identified a small subset of patients (6/54 cases) with stage I OCCC with an aggressive course (5-yr ovarian cancer-specific survival of 33.3%, compared with 91.5% in the other stage I cases). Among theranostic targets, ERBB2 amplification was present in 11/158 (7%) of OCCC, while MET was ubiquitously expressed in OCCC similar to a variety of normal control tissues. ER/PR showed a low prevalence of expression. No abnormal expression was detected for any of the other targets. We propose a combination of 3 biomarkers (p53, p16, IGF2BP3) to predict prognosis and the potential need for adjuvant therapy for patients with stage I OCCC. This finding requires replication in larger cohorts. In addition, OCCC could be tested for ERBB2 amplification for inclusion in gynecological basket trials targeting this alteration.

Evaluating the role of alcohol consumption in breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility using population-based cohort studies and two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses.

Alcohol consumption is correlated positively with risk for breast cancer in observational studies, but observational studies are subject to reverse causation and confounding. The association with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is unclear. We performed both observational Cox regression and two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses using data from various European cohort studies (observational) and publicly available cancer consortia (MR). These estimates were compared to World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) findings. In our observational analyses, the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for a one standard drink/day increase was 1.06 (95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.04, 1.08) for breast cancer and 1.00 (0.92, 1.08) for EOC, both of which were consistent with previous WCRF findings. MR ORs per genetically predicted one standard drink/day increase estimated via 34 SNPs using MR-PRESSO were 1.00 (0.93, 1.08) for breast cancer and 0.95 (0.85, 1.06) for EOC. Stratification by EOC subtype or estrogen receptor status in breast cancers made no meaningful difference to the results. For breast cancer, the CIs for the genetically derived estimates include the point-estimate from observational studies so are not inconsistent with a small increase in risk. Our data provide additional evidence that alcohol intake is unlikely to have anything other than a very small effect on risk of EOC.

Targeting the actin/tropomyosin cytoskeleton in epithelial ovarian cancer reveals multiple mechanisms of synergy with anti-microtubule agents.

BACKGROUND: Anti-microtubule agents are widely used to treat ovarian cancers, but the efficacy is often compromised by drug resistance. We investigated co-targeting the actin/tropomyosin cytoskeleton and microtubules to increase treatment efficacy in ovarian cancers and potentially overcome resistance. METHODS: The presence of tropomyosin-3.1 (Tpm3.1) was examined in clinical specimens from ovarian cancer patients using immunohistochemistry. Combinatorial effects of an anti-Tpm3.1 compound, ATM-3507, with vinorelbine and paclitaxel were evaluated in ovarian cancer cells via MTS and apoptosis assays. The mechanisms of action were established using live- and fixed-cell imaging and protein analysis. RESULTS: Tpm3.1 is overexpressed in 97% of tumour tissues (558 of 577) representing all histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer. ATM-3507 displayed synergy with both anti-microtubule agents to reduce cell viability. Only vinorelbine synergised with ATM-3507 in causing apoptosis. ATM-3507 significantly prolonged vinorelbine-induced mitotic arrest with elevated activity of the spindle assembly checkpoint and mitotic cell death; however, ATM-3507 showed minor impact on paclitaxel-induced mitotic defects. Both combinations substantially increased post-mitotic G1 arrest with cyclin D1 and E1 downregulation and an increase of p21Cip and p27Kip. CONCLUSION: Combined targeting of Tpm3.1/actin and microtubules is a promising treatment strategy for ovarian cancer that should be further tested in clinical settings.

Refined cut-off for TP53 immunohistochemistry improves prediction of TP53 mutation status in ovarian mucinous tumors: implications for outcome analyses.

TP53 mutations are implicated in the progression of mucinous borderline tumors (MBOT) to mucinous ovarian carcinomas (MOC). Optimized immunohistochemistry (IHC) for TP53 has been established as a proxy for the TP53 mutation status in other ovarian tumor types. We aimed to confirm the ability of TP53 IHC to predict TP53 mutation status in ovarian mucinous tumors and to evaluate the association of TP53 mutation status with survival among patients with MBOT and MOC. Tumor tissue from an initial cohort of 113 women with MBOT/MOC was stained with optimized IHC for TP53 using tissue microarrays (75.2%) or full sections (24.8%) and interpreted using established criteria as normal or abnormal (overexpression, complete absence, or cytoplasmic). Cases were considered concordant if abnormal IHC staining predicted deleterious TP53 mutations. Discordant tissue microarray cases were re-evaluated on full sections and interpretational criteria were refined. The initial cohort was expanded to a total of 165 MBOT and 424 MOC for the examination of the association of survival with TP53 mutation status, assessed either by TP53 IHC and/or sequencing. Initially, 82/113 (72.6%) cases were concordant using the established criteria. Refined criteria for overexpression to account for intratumoral heterogeneity and terminal differentiation improved concordance to 93.8% (106/113). In the expanded cohort, 19.4% (32/165) of MBOT showed evidence for TP53 mutation and this was associated with a higher risk of recurrence, disease-specific death, and all-cause mortality (overall survival: HR = 4.6, 95% CI 1.5-14.3, p = 0.0087). Within MOC, 61.1% (259/424) harbored a TP53 mutation, but this was not associated with survival (overall survival, p = 0.77). TP53 IHC is an accurate proxy for TP53 mutation status with refined interpretation criteria accounting for intratumoral heterogeneity and terminal differentiation in ovarian mucinous tumors. TP53 mutation status is an important biomarker to identify MBOT with a higher risk of mortality.

A combination of the immunohistochemical markers CK7 and SATB2 is highly sensitive and specific for distinguishing primary ovarian mucinous tumors from colorectal and appendiceal metastases.

Primary ovarian mucinous tumors can be difficult to distinguish from metastatic gastrointestinal neoplasms by histology alone. The expected immunoprofile of a suspected metastatic lower gastrointestinal tumor is CK7-/CK20+/CDX2+/PAX8-. This study assesses the addition of a novel marker SATB2, to improve the diagnostic algorithm. A test cohort included 155 ovarian mucinous tumors (105 carcinomas and 50 borderline tumors) and 230 primary lower gastrointestinal neoplasms (123 colorectal adenocarcinomas and 107 appendiceal neoplasms). All cases were assessed for SATB2, PAX8 CK7, CK20, and CDX2 expression on tissue microarrays. Expression was scored in a 3-tier system as absent, focal (1-50% of tumor cells) and diffuse ( >50% of tumor cells) and then categorized into either absent/present or nondiffuse/diffuse. SATB2 and PAX8 expression was further evaluated in ovarian tumors from an international cohort of 2876 patients (expansion cohort, including 159 mucinous carcinomas and 46 borderline mucinous tumors). The highest accuracy of an individual marker in distinguishing lower gastrointestinal from ovarian mucinous tumors was CK7 (91.7%, nondiffuse/diffuse cut-off) followed by SATB2 (88.8%, present/absent cut-off). The most effective combination was CK7 and SATB2 with accuracy of 95.3% using the 3-tier interpretation, absent/focal/diffuse. This combination outperformed the standard clinical set of CK7, CK20 and CDX2 (87.5%). Re-evaluation of outlier cases confirmed ovarian origin for all but one case. The accuracy of SATB2 was confirmed in the expansion cohort (91.5%). SATB2 expression was also detected in 15% of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma but less than 5% of other ovarian histotypes. A simple two marker combination of CK7 and SATB2 can distinguish lower gastrointestinal from ovarian primary mucinous tumors with greater than 95% accuracy. PAX8 and CDX2 have value as second-line markers. The utility of CK20 in this setting is low and this warrants replacement of this marker with SATB2 in clinical practice.

Nuclear ß-catenin and CDX2 expression in ovarian endometrioid carcinoma identify patients with favourable outcome.

AIMS: Ovarian endometrioid carcinoma (EC) generally has a good prognosis. Adjuvant chemotherapy can be spared in low-stage disease, but prognostic biomarkers are needed to refine the treatment threshold. Wnt/ß-catenin signalling is commonly altered in EC. We examined immunohistochemical expression of nuclear ß-catenin and CDX2 as prognostic biomarkers for EC; both are mediators of the Wnt pathway. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated two ovarian EC cohorts, discovery set (n = 183) and validation set (n = 174), with ovarian cancer-specific survival (OCSS) as the primary end-point. In univariable analysis, nuclear ß-catenin expression was significantly associated with longer OCSS in the discovery set [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.16-0.74, P = 0.004] and the validation set (HR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.11-0.89, P = 0.006). Similar significant associations were observed with CDX2 expression in the discovery set (HR = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.11-0.50, P < 0.001) and validation set (HR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.07-0.75, P = 0.020). In multivariable analysis, combined positivity of both markers was significantly associated with longer OCSS in the discovery set (HR = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.06-0.49, P < 0.001) and in the validation set (HR = 0.33 95% CI = 0.07-0.1.06, P = 0.047). In a stratified analysis for stage IC/II EC, combined positivity identified a subset of patients with a significantly longer OCSS in the discovery cohort but only a non-significant trend in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Nuclear ß-catenin and CDX2 expression individually or in combination are validated prognostic markers for ovarian EC. However, their full potential to stratify low risk patients at adjuvant threshold awaits further multimarker study.

Ovarian Endometrioid Carcinoma Misdiagnosed as Mucinous Carcinoma: An Underrecognized Problem.

Primary mucinous carcinoma of the ovary is uncommon, and while numerous studies have focused on improving our ability to distinguish these tumors from gastrointestinal metastases, recent data suggest that up to one fifth are still misdiagnosed with a previously underrecognized culprit: endometrioid carcinoma. Using an index case of an ovarian endometrioid carcinoma with mucinous differentiation masquerading as a mucinous carcinoma, we sought to identify the most efficient biomarker combination that could distinguish these 2 histotypes. Eight immunohistochemical markers were assessed on tissue microarrays from 183 endometrioid carcinomas, 77 mucinous carcinomas, and 72 mucinous borderline tumors. Recursive partitioning revealed a simple 2-marker panel consisting of PR and vimentin. The combination of PR absence and vimentin absence could predict mucinous tumors with a sensitivity of 95.1%, a specificity of 96.7%, and an overall accuracy of 96.0%. Additional marker combinations did not improve accuracy. The 5-yr ovarian cancer-specific survival for mucinous carcinoma was significantly worse than endometrioid carcinoma (70% vs. 86%, respectively, P=0.02). Our proposed 2-marker algorithm allows diagnostic distinction between mucinous and endometrioid ovarian carcinomas when morphology is not straightforward. Given key differences in the underlying biology and clinical behavior of these 2 histotypes, improved diagnostic precision is essential for guiding appropriate management and treatment.

Ovarian cancer risk, ALDH2 polymorphism and alcohol drinking: Asian data from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

The aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) polymorphism rs671 (Glu504Lys) causes ALDH2 inactivation and adverse acetaldehyde exposure among Asians, but little is known of the association between alcohol consumption and rs671 and ovarian cancer (OvCa) in Asians. We conducted a pooled analysis of Asian ancestry participants in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We included seven case-control studies and one cohort study comprising 460 invasive OvCa cases, 37 borderline mucinous OvCa and 1274 controls of Asian descent with information on recent alcohol consumption. Pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for OvCa risk associated with alcohol consumption, rs671 and their interaction were estimated using logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders. No significant association was observed for daily alcohol intake with invasive OvCa (OR comparing any consumption to none = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.58-1.18) or with individual histotypes. A significant decreased risk was seen for carriers of one or both Lys alleles of rs671 for invasive mucinous OvCa (OR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.20-0.97) and for invasive and borderline mucinous tumors combined (OR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.26-0.89). No significant interaction was observed between alcohol consumption and rs671 genotypes. In conclusion, self-reported alcohol consumption at the quantities estimated was not associated with OvCa risk among Asians. Because the rs671 Lys allele causes ALDH2 inactivation leading to increased acetaldehyde exposure, the observed inverse genetic association with mucinous ovarian cancer is inferred to mean that alcohol intake may be a risk factor for this histotype. This association will require replication in a larger sample.

Exome genotyping arrays to identify rare and low frequency variants associated with epithelial ovarian cancer risk.

Rare and low frequency variants are not well covered in most germline genotyping arrays and are understudied in relation to epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk. To address this gap, we used genotyping arrays targeting rarer protein-coding variation in 8,165 EOC cases and 11,619 controls from the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). Pooled association analyses were conducted at the variant and gene level for 98,543 variants directly genotyped through two exome genotyping projects. Only common variants that represent or are in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) with previously-identified signals at established loci reached traditional thresholds for exome-wide significance (P < 5.0 × 10 - 7). One of the most significant signals (Pall histologies = 1.01 × 10 - 13;Pserous = 3.54 × 10 - 14) occurred at 3q25.31 for rs62273959, a missense variant mapping to the LEKR1 gene that is in LD (r2 = 0.90) with a previously identified 'best hit' (rs7651446) mapping to an intron of TIPARP. Suggestive associations (5.0 × 10 - 5 > P≥5.0 ×10 - 7) were detected for rare and low-frequency variants at 16 novel loci. Four rare missense variants were identified (ACTBL2 rs73757391 (5q11.2), BTD rs200337373 (3p25.1), KRT13 rs150321809 (17q21.2) and MC2R rs104894658 (18p11.21)), but only MC2R rs104894668 had a large effect size (OR = 9.66). Genes most strongly associated with EOC risk included ACTBL2 (PAML = 3.23 × 10 - 5; PSKAT-o = 9.23 × 10 - 4) and KRT13 (PAML = 1.67 × 10 - 4; PSKAT-o = 1.07 × 10 - 5), reaffirming variant-level analysis. In summary, this large study identified several rare and low-frequency variants and genes that may contribute to EOC susceptibility, albeit with possible small effects. Future studies that integrate epidemiology, sequencing, and functional assays are needed to further unravel the unexplained heritability and biology of this disease.

Histotype classification of ovarian carcinoma: A comparison of approaches.

OBJECTIVE: Major changes in the classification of ovarian carcinoma histotypes occurred over the last two decades, resulting in the current 2014 World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria that recognize five principal histotypes: high-grade serous, low-grade serous, endometrioid, clear cell, and mucinous carcinoma. We assessed the impact of these guidelines and use of immunohistochemical (IHC) markers on classification of ovarian carcinomas in existing population-based studies. METHODS: We evaluated histotype classification for 2361 ovarian carcinomas diagnosed between 1999 and 2009 from two case-control studies using three approaches: 1. pre-2014 WHO ("historic") histotype; 2. Standardized review of pathology slides using the 2014 WHO criteria alone; and 3. An integrated IHC assessment along with the 2014 WHO criteria. We used Kappa statistics to assess agreement between approaches, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate mortality. RESULTS: Compared to the standardized pathologic review histotype, agreement across approaches was high (kappa = 0.892 for historic, and 0.849 for IHC integrated histotype), but the IHC integrated histotype identified more low-grade serous carcinomas and a subset of endometrioid carcinomas that were assigned as high-grade serous (n = 25). No substantial differences in histotype-specific mortality were observed across approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that histotype assignment is fairly consistent regardless of classification approach, but that progressive improvements in classification accuracy for some less common histotypes are achieved with pathologic review using the 2014 WHO criteria and with IHC integration. We additionally recommend a classification scheme to fit historic data into the 2014 WHO categories to answer histotype-specific research questions.

rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 Region and Risk of Ovarian Carcinoma of Mucinous Histology.

Thymidylate synthase (TYMS) is a crucial enzyme for DNA synthesis. TYMS expression is regulated by its antisense mRNA, ENOSF1. Disrupted regulation may promote uncontrolled DNA synthesis and tumor growth. We sought to replicate our previously reported association between rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 3' gene region and increased risk of mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) in an independent sample. Genotypes from 24,351 controls to 15,000 women with invasive OC, including 665 MOC, were available. We estimated per-allele odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using unconditional logistic regression, and meta-analysis when combining these data with our previous report. The association between rs495139 and MOC was not significant in the independent sample (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.97⁻1.22; p = 0.15; N = 665 cases). Meta-analysis suggested a weak association (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.03⁻1.24; p = 0.01; N = 1019 cases). No significant association with risk of other OC histologic types was observed (p = 0.05 for tumor heterogeneity). In expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis, the rs495139 allele was positively associated with ENOSF1 mRNA expression in normal tissues of the gastrointestinal system, particularly esophageal mucosa (r = 0.51, p = 1.7 × 10-28), and nonsignificantly in five MOC tumors. The association results, along with inconclusive tumor eQTL findings, suggest that a true effect of rs495139 might be small.

Dietary Quality and Ovarian Cancer Risk in African-American Women.

This study evaluated 3 index-based dietary patterns-Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005, HEI-2010, and Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010-in relation to ovarian cancer risk in African-American women. The study was conducted among 415 ovarian cancer cases and 629 age- and site-matched controls of African-American descent recruited from the population-based African American Cancer Epidemiology Study. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals between quartiles of dietary quality indices and ovarian cancer risk, adjusting for potential confounders. We found that higher AHEI-2010 scores, but not HEI-2005 or HEI-2010 scores, were associated with lower risk of ovarian cancer (comparing the highest quartile (4th) vs. lowest (1st), odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.45, 0.98; P for trend = 0.05). When stratified by menopausal status, no noteworthy associations were observed among premenopausal women. However, among postmenopausal women, greater adherence to HEI-2010 (quartile 4 vs. quartile 1, OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.92; P for trend = 0.03) and AHEI-2010 (quartile 4 vs. quartile 1, OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.78; P for trend = 0.01) were inversely associated with ovarian cancer. Our findings indicate that adherence to an overall healthy dietary pattern may reduce ovarian cancer risk in African-American women, and particularly among postmenopausal African-American women.

Enrichment of putative PAX8 target genes at serous epithelial ovarian cancer susceptibility loci.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 18 loci associated with serous ovarian cancer (SOC) susceptibility but the biological mechanisms driving these findings remain poorly characterised. Germline cancer risk loci may be enriched for target genes of transcription factors (TFs) critical to somatic tumorigenesis. METHODS: All 615 TF-target sets from the Molecular Signatures Database were evaluated using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and three GWAS for SOC risk: discovery (2196 cases/4396 controls), replication (7035 cases/21 693 controls; independent from discovery), and combined (9627 cases/30 845 controls; including additional individuals). RESULTS: The PAX8-target gene set was ranked 1/615 in the discovery (PGSEA<0.001; FDR=0.21), 7/615 in the replication (PGSEA=0.004; FDR=0.37), and 1/615 in the combined (PGSEA<0.001; FDR=0.21) studies. Adding other genes reported to interact with PAX8 in the literature to the PAX8-target set and applying an alternative to GSEA, interval enrichment, further confirmed this association (P=0.006). Fifteen of the 157 genes from this expanded PAX8 pathway were near eight loci associated with SOC risk at P<10-5 (including six with P<5 × 10-8). The pathway was also associated with differential gene expression after shRNA-mediated silencing of PAX8 in HeyA8 (PGSEA=0.025) and IGROV1 (PGSEA=0.004) SOC cells and several PAX8 targets near SOC risk loci demonstrated in vitro transcriptomic perturbation. CONCLUSIONS: Putative PAX8 target genes are enriched for common SOC risk variants. This finding from our agnostic evaluation is of particular interest given that PAX8 is well-established as a specific marker for the cell of origin of SOC.

Synchronous endometrial and ovarian carcinomas: predictors of risk and associations with survival and tumor expression profiles.

PURPOSE: Synchronous endometrial and ovarian tumors (SEOs) are diagnosed in 10% of ovarian cancer patients. We examined predictors of SEOs, evaluated associations of SEOs with survival and characterized ovarian tumor profiles using immunohistochemistry. METHODS: We included patients with endometrioid (n = 180) and clear cell (n = 165) ovarian carcinoma identified from the Alberta Cancer Registry between 1979 and 2010 for whom we abstracted medical records and constructed tumor tissue microarrays (TMAs). A concurrent diagnosis of endometrial cancer was obtained from the medical chart. We used unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs. Protein expression in ovarian tumors of patients with and without SEOs was evaluated using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Comparing 52 patients with SEO tumors to 293 patients with endometrioid or clear cell ovarian carcinomas, endometriosis at the ovary (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.23-0.87, p = 0.02) was the strongest predictor of decreased risk in multivariable models. Premenopausal status (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 0.92-5.13, p = 0.08) and lower pre-treatment CA125 levels (OR = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.02-1.32, p = 0.09) showed weaker associations. There were no significant differences in survival between patients with or without SEO tumors. More patients with SEO tumors compared to endometrioid ovarian carcinoma were deficient in MLH1, PMS2 and PTEN (p ≤ 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Endometriosis may not be the mechanism by which SEO cancers arise. Altered tumor oncoprotein expression between women with and without SEOs indicates important biological differences although this did not translate into prognostic differences.

Predictors of pretreatment CA125 at ovarian cancer diagnosis: a pooled analysis in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

PURPOSE: Cancer antigen 125 (CA125) is a glycoprotein expressed by epithelial cells of several normal tissue types and overexpressed by several epithelial cancers. Serum CA125 levels are mostly used as an aid in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer patients, to monitor response to treatment and detect cancer recurrence. Besides tumor characteristics, CA125 levels are also influenced by several epidemiologic factors, such as age, parity, and oral contraceptive use. Identifying factors that influence CA125 levels in ovarian cancer patients could aid in the interpretation of CA125 values for individuals. METHODS: We evaluated predictors of pretreatment CA125 in 13 studies participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. This analysis included a total of 5,091 women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer with pretreatment CA125 measurements. We used probit scores to account for variability in CA125 between studies and linear regression to estimate the association between epidemiologic factors and tumor characteristics and pretreatment CA125 levels. RESULTS: In age-adjusted models, older age, history of pregnancy, history of tubal ligation, family history of breast cancer, and family history of ovarian cancer were associated with higher CA125 levels while endometriosis was associated with lower CA125 levels. After adjusting for tumor-related characteristics (stage, histology, grade), body mass index (BMI) higher than 30 kg/m2 was associated with 10% (95% CI 2, 19%) higher CA125 levels, while race (non-white vs. white) was associated with 15% (95% CI 4, 27%) higher CA125 levels. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that high BMI and race may influence CA125 levels independent of tumor characteristics. Validation is needed in studies that use a single assay for CA125 measurement and have a diverse study population.

Cigarette smoking and the association with serous ovarian cancer in African American women: African American Cancer Epidemiology Study (AACES).

BACKGROUND: Smoking is a risk factor for mucinous ovarian cancer (OvCa) in Caucasians. Whether a similar association exists in African Americans (AA) is unknown. METHODS: We conducted a population-based case-control study of incident OvCa in AA women across 11 geographic locations in the US. A structured telephone interview asked about smoking, demographic, health, and lifestyle factors. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (OR, 95% CI) were estimated from 613 cases and 752 controls using unconditional logistic regression in multivariable adjusted models. RESULTS: Associations were greater in magnitude for serous OvCa than for all OvCa combined. Compared to never smokers, increased risk for serous OvCa was observed for lifetime ever smokers (1.46, 1.11-1.92), former smokers who quit within 0-2 years of diagnosis (5.48, 3.04-9.86), and for total pack-years smoked among lifetime ever smokers (0-5 pack-years: 1.79, 1.23-2.59; >5-20 pack-years: 1.52, 1.05-2.18; >20 pack-years: 0.98, 0.61-1.56); however, we observed no dose-response relationship with increasing duration or consumption and no significant associations among current smokers. Smoking was not significantly associated with mucinous OvCa. Associations for all OvCa combined were consistently elevated among former smokers. The proportion of ever smokers who quit within 0-2 years was greater among cases (23%) than controls (7%). CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette smoking may be associated with serous OvCa among AA, which differs from associations reported among Caucasians. Exposure misclassification or reverse causality may partially explain the absence of increased risk among current smokers and lack of dose-response associations. Better characterization of smoking patterns is needed in this understudied population.

History of hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes and ovarian cancer patient survival: evidence from the ovarian cancer association consortium.

PURPOSE: Survival following ovarian cancer diagnosis is generally low; understanding factors related to prognosis could be important to optimize treatment. The role of previously diagnosed comorbidities and use of medications for those conditions in relation to prognosis for ovarian cancer patients has not been studied extensively, particularly according to histological subtype. METHODS: Using pooled data from fifteen studies participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, we examined the associations between history of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and medications taken for these conditions and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) among patients diagnosed with invasive epithelial ovarian carcinoma. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for age and stage to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) overall and within strata of histological subtypes. RESULTS: History of diabetes was associated with increased risk of mortality (n = 7,674; HR = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.01-1.25). No significant mortality associations were observed for hypertension (n = 6,482; HR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.88-1.02) or heart disease (n = 4,252; HR = 1.05; 95% CI = 0.87-1.27). No association of these comorbidities was found with PFS in the overall study population. However, among patients with endometrioid tumors, hypertension was associated with lower risk of progression (n = 339, HR = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.35-0.84). Comorbidity was not associated with OS or PFS for any of the other histological subtypes. Ever use of beta blockers, oral antidiabetic medications, and insulin was associated with increased mortality, HR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.03-1.40, HR = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.05-1.55, and HR = 1.63; 95% CI = 1.20-2.20, respectively. Ever use of diuretics was inversely associated with mortality, HR = 0.71; 95% CI = 0.53-0.94. CONCLUSIONS: Histories of hypertension, diabetes, and use of diuretics, beta blockers, insulin, and oral antidiabetic medications may influence the survival of ovarian cancer patients. Understanding mechanisms for these observations could provide insight regarding treatment.

Association of Hormone Receptor Expression with Survival in Ovarian Endometrioid Carcinoma: Biological Validation and Clinical Implications.

This paper aims to validate whether hormone receptor expression is associated with longer survival among women diagnosed with ovarian endometrioid carcinoma (EC), and whether it identifies patients with stage IC/II tumors with excellent outcome that could be spared from toxic chemotherapy. Expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) was assessed on 182 EC samples represented on tissue microarrays using the Alberta Ovarian Tumor Type (AOVT) cohort. Statistical analyses were performed to test for associations with ovarian cancer specific survival. ER or PR expression was present in 87.3% and 86.7% of cases, respectively, with co-expression present in 83.0%. Expression of each of the hormonal receptors was significantly higher in low-grade tumors and tumors with squamous differentiation. Expression of ER (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.18, 95% confidence interval 0.08-0.42, p = 0.0002) and of PR (HR = 0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.10-0.53, p = 0.0011) were significantly associated with longer ovarian cancer specific survival adjusted for age, grade, treatment center, stage, and residual disease. However, the five-year ovarian cancer specific survival among women with ER positive stage IC/II EC was 89.0% (standard error 3.3%) and for PR positive tumors 89.9% (standard error 3.2%), robustly below the 95% threshold where adjuvant therapy could be avoided. We validated the association of hormone receptor expression with ovarian cancer specific survival independent of standard predictors in an independent sample set of EC. The high ER/PR co-expression frequency and the survival difference support further testing of the efficacy of hormonal therapy in hormone receptor-positive ovarian EC. The clinical utility to identify a group of women diagnosed with EC at stage IC/II that could be spared from adjuvant therapy is limited.

Socioeconomic Status in Relation to the Risk of Ovarian Cancer in African-American Women: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.

We investigated the association between socioeconomic status and ovarian cancer in African-American women. We used a population-based case-control study design that included case patients with incident ovarian cancer (n = 513) and age- and area-matched control participants (n = 721) from 10 states who were recruited into the African American Cancer Epidemiology Study from December 2010 through December 2014. Questionnaires were administered via telephone, and study participants responded to questions about several characteristics, including years of education, family annual income, and risk factors for ovarian cancer. After adjustment for established ovarian cancer risk factors, women with a college degree or more education had an odds ratio of 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51, 0.99) when compared with those with a high school diploma or less (P for trend = 0.02); women with family annual incomes of $75,000 or more had an odds ratio of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.47, 1.16) when compared with those with incomes less than $10,000 (P for trend = 0.055). When these variables were dichotomized, compared with women with a high school diploma or less, women with more education had an adjusted odds ratio of 0.72 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.93), and compared with women with an income less than $25,000, women with higher incomes had an adjusted odds ratio of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.66, 1.12). These findings suggest that ovarian cancer risk may be inversely associated with socioeconomic status among African-American women and highlight the need for additional evidence to more thoroughly characterize the association between socioeconomic status and ovarian cancer.

Recreational physical inactivity and mortality in women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer: evidence from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about modifiable behaviours that may be associated with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) survival. We conducted a pooled analysis of 12 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to investigate the association between pre-diagnostic physical inactivity and mortality. METHODS: Participants included 6806 women with a primary diagnosis of invasive EOC. In accordance with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, women reporting no regular, weekly recreational physical activity were classified as inactive. We utilised Cox proportional hazard models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) representing the associations of inactivity with mortality censored at 5 years. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, inactive women had significantly higher mortality risks, with (HR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.18-1.52) and without (HR=1.22, 95% CI: 1.12-1.33) further adjustment for residual disease, respectively. CONCLUSION: In this large pooled analysis, lack of recreational physical activity was associated with increased mortality among women with invasive EOC.