Molecular Changes in Circulating Cell Free DNA from BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers with Tubal Precursor Lesions and Occult Early High-GradeSerous Ovarian Cancer at Risk-Reducing Surgery

ABSTRACT

High grade serous ovarian cancer typically presents at advanced stage with a median survival of 44 months. Small precursors to this cancer are found in the fallopian tube and likely seed the ovary and peritoneum simultaneously. Early detection is urgently needed and ideally would detect precursor lesions. This award will determine if DNA methylation patterns exhibited in circulating cell-free DNA could be used to detect precursor lesions. During the first year of the award, application for province-wide (Ontario) research ethics approval was submitted to umbrella all 4 participating hospitals. This umbrella approval was obtained;however, we are awaiting final approval from 2 hospitals, which was delayed by the covid-19 shutdown. All research activities were halted (Covid-19 research being the exception) and department staff were redeployed to other hospital activities, causing a back-up of research-related activity. All centres are currently reopening (in stage 2) and study approval should be forthcoming. The Material Transfer Agreements have been started by Sinai Health System and once final REB/IRB approval has been obtained, these will be finalized across the all institutions. Patient samples for use in this study as identified have been secured and we are poised to complete the study once approvals are finalized.