Racial and ethnic differences in epithelial ovarian cancer risk: an analysis from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

BACKGROUND: Limited estimates exist on risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) women. METHODS: Participants included 1734 Asian (785 cases, 949 controls), 266 NHPI (99 cases, 167 controls), 1149 Hispanic (505 cases, 644 controls), and 24,189 White (9,981 cases, 14,208 controls) women from 11 studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Logistic regression models estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for risk associations by race and ethnicity. RESULTS: Heterogeneity in EOC risk associations by race and ethnicity (p ≤ 0.02) was observed for oral contraceptive (OC) use, parity, tubal ligation and smoking. We observed inverse associations with EOC risk for OC use and parity across all groups; associations were strongest in NHPI and Asian women. The inverse association for tubal ligation with risk was most pronounced for NHPI participants (OR=0.25, 95% CI 0.13-0.48), versus Asian and White participants, respectively (OR=0.68, 95% CI 0.51-0.90; OR=0.78, 95% CI 0.73-0.85). CONCLUSIONS: Differences in EOC risk factor associations were observed across racial and ethnic groups, which could in part be due to varying prevalence of EOC histotypes. Inclusion of greater diversity in future studies is essential to inform prevention strategies.

Ovarian Cancer Ascites Inhibits Transcriptional Activation of NK Cells Partly through CA125.

Malignant ascites is a common clinical problem in ovarian cancer. NK cells are present in the ascites, but their antitumor activity is inhibited. The underlying mechanisms of the inhibition have yet to be fully elucidated. Using an Fcγ receptor-mediated NK cell activation assay, we show that ascites from ovarian cancer patients potently inhibits NK cell activation. Part of the inhibitory activity is mediated by CA125, a mucin 16 fragment shed from ovarian cancer tumors. Moreover, transcriptional analyses by RNA sequencing reveal upregulation of genes involved in multiple metabolic pathways but downregulation of genes involved in cytotoxicity and signaling pathways in NK cells purified from ovarian cancer patient ascites. Transcription of genes involved in cytotoxicity pathways are also downregulated in NK cells from healthy donors after in vitro treatment with ascites or with a CA125-enriched protein fraction. These results show that ascites and CA125 inhibit antitumor activity of NK cells at transcriptional levels by suppressing expression of genes involved in NK cell activation and cytotoxicity. Our findings shed light on the molecular mechanisms by which ascites inhibits the activity of NK cells and suggest possible approaches to reactivate NK cells for ovarian cancer immunotherapy.

CCNE1 and survival of patients with tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma: An Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium study.

BACKGROUND: Cyclin E1 (CCNE1) is a potential predictive marker and therapeutic target in tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC). Smaller studies have revealed unfavorable associations for CCNE1 amplification and CCNE1 overexpression with survival, but to date no large-scale, histotype-specific validation has been performed. The hypothesis was that high-level amplification of CCNE1 and CCNE1 overexpression, as well as a combination of the two, are linked to shorter overall survival in HGSC. METHODS: Within the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium, amplification status and protein level in 3029 HGSC cases and mRNA expression in 2419 samples were investigated. RESULTS: High-level amplification (>8 copies by chromogenic in situ hybridization) was found in 8.6% of HGSC and overexpression (>60% with at least 5% demonstrating strong intensity by immunohistochemistry) was found in 22.4%. CCNE1 high-level amplification and overexpression both were linked to shorter overall survival in multivariate survival analysis adjusted for age and stage, with hazard stratification by study (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08-1.47, p = .034, and HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.05-1.32, p = .015, respectively). This was also true for cases with combined high-level amplification/overexpression (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09-1.47, p = .033). CCNE1 mRNA expression was not associated with overall survival (HR, 1.00 per 1-SD increase; 95% CI, 0.94-1.06; p = .58). CCNE1 high-level amplification is mutually exclusive with the presence of germline BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants and shows an inverse association to RB1 loss. CONCLUSION: This study provides large-scale validation that CCNE1 high-level amplification is associated with shorter survival, supporting its utility as a prognostic biomarker in HGSC.

Clinical parameters affecting survival outcomes in patients with low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma: an international multicentre analysis.

BACKGROUND: Women with low-grade ovarian serous carcinoma (LGSC) benefit from surgical treatment; however, the role of chemotherapy is controversial. We examined an international database through the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to identify factors that affect survival in LGSC. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of patients with LGSC who had had primary surgery and had overall survival data available. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses of progression-free survival and overall survival, and generated Kaplan-Meier survival curves. RESULTS: Of the 707 patients with LGSC, 680 (96.2%) had available overall survival data. The patients' median age overall was 54 years. Of the 659 patients with International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology stage data, 156 (23.7%) had stage I disease, 64 (9.7%) had stage II, 395 (59.9%) had stage III, and 44 (6.7%) had stage IV. Of the 377 patients with surgical data, 200 (53.0%) had no visible residual disease. Of the 361 patients with chemotherapy data, 330 (91.4%) received first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. The median follow-up duration was 5.0 years. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 43.2 months and 110.4 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated a statistically significant impact of stage and residual disease on progression-free survival and overall survival. Platinum-based chemotherapy was not associated with a survival advantage. CONCLUSION: This multicentre analysis indicates that complete surgical cytoreduction to no visible residual disease has the most impact on improved survival in LGSC. This finding could immediately inform and change practice.

Endometriosis and menopausal hormone therapy impact the hysterectomy-ovarian cancer association.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between hysterectomy and ovarian cancer, and to understand how hormone therapy (HT) use and endometriosis affect this association. METHODS: We conducted a pooled analysis of self-reported data from 11 case-control studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). Women with (n = 5350) and without ovarian cancer (n = 7544) who never used HT or exclusively used either estrogen-only therapy (ET) or estrogen+progestin therapy (EPT) were included. Risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer adjusted for duration of ET and EPT use and stratified on history of endometriosis was determined using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Overall and among women without endometriosis, there was a positive association between ovarian cancer risk and hysterectomy (OR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.09-1.31 and OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.09-1.32, respectively), but no association upon adjusting for duration of ET and EPT use (OR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.94-1.16 and OR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.95-1.18, respectively). Among women with a history of endometriosis, there was a slight inverse association between hysterectomy and ovarian cancer risk (OR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.69-1.26), but this association became stronger and statistically significant after adjusting for duration of ET and EPT use (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.48-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: The hysterectomy-ovarian cancer association is complex and cannot be understood without considering duration of ET and EPT use and history of endometriosis. Failure to take these exposures into account in prior studies casts doubt on their conclusions. Overall, hysterectomy is not risk-reducing for ovarian cancer, however the inverse association among women with endometriosis warrants further investigation.

Factors Influencing the Results of COVID-19 Case Outreach-Results From a California Case Investigation/Contact Tracing Program.

CONTEXT: Considerable research has examined impacts of case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) programs on the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, but there are few reports on factors affecting the ability of these programs to obtain interviews and acquire key information. OBJECTIVE: To investigate programmatic and case-specific factors associated with CI outcomes using data from the Public Health Institute's Tracing Health CI/CT program. Analyses were designed to detect variability in predictors of whether interviews and key information were obtained rather than quantify specific relationships. DESIGN: Logistic regression models examined variability in the predictive value of interview timeliness and respondent characteristics on outreach outcomes and interview results. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants were members of a large California health care network with a positive laboratory test for COVID-19 and outreach from January 1 to July 31, 2021. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the result of outreach attempts: completed interview, refused interview, or failure to reach the infected person. Secondary outcomes considered whether respondents provided information on symptom onset, employment, and contact information or a reason for declining to provide information, and whether resource support was requested or accepted. RESULTS: Of 9391 eligible records, 65.6% were for completed interviews, 6.0% were refusals, and 28.3% were failed outreach. One-third of respondents (36.7%) provided information on contacts (mean = 0.97 contacts per respondent, 2.6 for those naming at least 1). Privacy concerns were the most common reasons for not providing contact information. Among respondent characteristics and interview timeliness, only race and number of symptoms showed statistically significant effects in all adjusted analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Significant variation existed in outreach outcomes by subject characteristics and interview timeliness. CI/CT programs carefully focused to characteristics and needs of specific communities will likely have the greatest impact on the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.

Intrauterine device use and risk of ovarian cancer: Results from the New England Case-Control study and Nurses' Health Studies.

Results of studies assessing intrauterine device (IUD) use and ovarian cancer risk are inconsistent. We examined the association between IUD use, including duration, type and timing of use, and ovarian cancer risk using three population-based studies. Data from the New England Case-Control Study (NEC) and two prospective cohort studies, the Nurses' Health Studies (NHS/NHSII), were included in the analysis. Information on IUD use was collected by in-person interview in NEC and by biennial questionnaire in NHS/NHSII. We used unconditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in NEC and Cox regression to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% CI in NHS/NHSII. We used meta-analysis to combine the NEC and the pooled NHS/NHSII results. Overall, IUD use was not associated with epithelial ovarian cancer risk (OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.81-1.14 in NEC; HR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.69-1.15 in NHS/NHSII; combined RR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.81-1.08). Among IUD users, older age at first use was associated with increased ovarian cancer risk (P-trend = .03). We did not observe significant associations by IUD type or duration of use. In conclusion, IUD use was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in our study.

Racial/ethnic differences in average CA125 and CA15.3 values and its correlates among postmenopausal women in the USA.

PURPOSE: Among healthy postmenopausal women, levels of CA125 and CA15.3 are influenced by demographic and reproductive factors, including race/ethnicity. In this study, we sought to examine the interaction between race/ethnicity and other correlates of these biomarkers and whether the racial differences observed are simply determined by other correlates with racial differences. METHODS: In archived sera from 946 postmenopausal women who participated in the 2001-2002 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we measured CA125 and CA15.3 and examined their associations with health survey and examination data available in this cohort. We used multivariable linear regression to examine the association between CA125 and CA15.3 and race/ethnicity. We then calculated geometric means of these markers by demographic and reproductive factors stratified by race/ethnicity and used likelihood ratio tests to evaluate heterogeneity. RESULTS: Non-white race was associated with lower CA125, with Non-Hispanic Black women being associated with - 29.0% (95% CI - 42.5%, - 12.2%) difference and Mexican American women being associated with - 6.4% (95% CI - 18.1%, 6.9%) difference on average compared to Non-Hispanic White women. Associations between CA125 and age and parity varied by race/ethnicity. Non-Hispanic Black women were associated with higher CA15.3 compared to Non-Hispanic White women, with 17.3% (95% CI - 0.5%, 38.3%) differences on average. Associations between CA15.3 and age, number of births, and age at natural menopause varied by race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Among postmenopausal women, Non-Hispanic Black women were associated with lower CA125 and higher CA15.3 levels compared to Non-Hispanic White women. Our results support that race/ethnicity should be considered when assigning thresholds for these biomarkers being tested for diagnostic or screening purposes.

Epidemiologic and biologic correlates of serum HE4 and CA125 in women from the National Health and Nutritional Survey (NHANES).

OBJECTIVES: In women with ovarian cancer, tumor features largely determine serum HE4 and CA125 levels, but non-tumor factors may also influence levels and be better understood by studying determinants in a well-characterized sample of women without cancer. METHODS: Serum HE4 and CA125 were measured in 2302 women from the 2001-2002 cohort of the National Heath and Nutritional Survey (NHANES). Publicly-available data on this cohort included demographic/reproductive variables, blood counts, and measurements of C-reactive protein (CRP), total homocysteine (tHcy), cotinine, and creatinine which were examined as predictors of HE4 and CA125 using multivariate models and correlational analyses. RESULTS: HE4 increased non-linearly by age and current smokers had higher HE4. CA125 was lower in postmenopausal women and non-whites and trended downward with increasing BMI. Current-users of oral contraceptives (OCs) had lower HE4 and CA125; and a downward trend for CA125 was seen with increasing OC use. Pregnant women had higher CA125 and nursing women higher HE4. HE4 and CA125 were positively correlated with neutrophils, monocytes, and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and inversely correlated with lymphocytes and the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio. CRP was positively correlated with both HE4 and CA125 in postmenopausal women. Strong positive correlations existed for HE4 with both tHcy and creatinine. CONCLUSIONS: Serum levels of HE4 and CA125 are influenced by several hormonal or environmental stimuli which affect non-cancerous tissues normally expressing HE4 or CA125. Cytokine co-expression in those tissues may, in turn, affect white cell counts and account for their correlation with HE4 or CA125 levels.

Differential blood count as triage tool in evaluation of pelvic masses.

OBJECTIVE: Triaging patients with presumptive ovarian cancer to the appropriate specialist may improve survival. Therefore, there is increasing interest in complementary diagnostic markers to the standard serum CA125. In patients with pelvic masses, we examined the ability of epidemiologic variables and preoperative differential blood counts to improve detection of ovarian cancer over CA125 alone. METHODS: From pathology reports, patients were classified as having: epithelial ovarian cancer (n=743), including fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer, non-epithelial ovarian cancers (n=46), non-ovarian cancers (n=122), or benign disease (1,129). From women with epithelial ovarian cancer, we excluded those who received prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n=19). Women were also excluded if they did not have a serum CA125 or complete blood count measured within 180 days prior to surgery (n=1099) or did not have both tests within 90 days of each other (n=13). Categorizing patients by menopausal status, we calculated Pearson correlations between differential counts or ratios and CA125, and used t tests to identity univariate predictors of malignancy and stepwise logistic regression and likelihood ratio tests to create models best distinguishing epithelial ovarian cancer from benign disease. RESULTS: 337 women with epithelial ovarian cancer and 365 with benign disease were included in the analysis. Compared with cancers, women with benign disease had lower average: age, 52.5 versus 58.4 years (p<0.0001); serum CA125, 20 versus 239 U/mL (p<0.0001), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, 2.4 versus 3.5 (p<0.0001); and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, 158 versus 222 (p<0.0001); but greater average body mass index, 28.5 versus 26.8 kg/m2 (p=0.004), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio, 5.6 versus 3.9 (p<0.0001). Correlations between counts and ratios and serum CA125 were seen in both epithelial ovarian cancer and benign disease groups and differed by menopausal status. In premenopausal women, a multivariate model including serum CA125, smoking, family history, lymphocytes, and monocytes performed similarly to the model with lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio replacing counts. In postmenopausal women, a model including body mass index, parity, monocytes, and basophils performed similarly to the model replacing counts with platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio. Models including epidemiologic variables and either counts or ratios were better at fitting data than models with serum CA125 and menopausal status alone. A single model applying to all women overstated performance for premenopausal women and understated performance for postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS: Epidemiologic variables and differential counts or ratios better distinguished between benign and malignant disease when compared with serum CA125 alone using separate models for pre- and postmenopausal women.

Estrogen Plus Progestin Hormone Therapy and Ovarian Cancer: A Complicated Relationship Explored.

BACKGROUND: Menopausal estrogen-alone therapy is a risk factor for endometrial and ovarian cancers. When a progestin is included with the estrogen daily (continuous estrogen-progestin combined therapy), there is no increased risk of endometrial cancer. However, the effect of continuous estrogen-progestin combined therapy on risk of ovarian cancer is less clear. METHODS: We pooled primary data from five population-based case-control studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, including 1509 postmenopausal ovarian cancer cases and 2295 postmenopausal controls. Information on previous menopausal hormonal therapy use, as well as ovarian cancer risk factors, was collected using in-person interviews. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between use of continuous estrogen-progestin combined therapy and risk of ovarian cancer by duration and recency of use and disease histotype. RESULTS: Ever postmenopausal use of continuous estrogen-progestin combined therapy was not associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer overall (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.72, 1.0). A decreased risk was observed for mucinous ovarian cancer (OR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.18, 0.91). The other main ovarian cancer histotypes did not show an association (endometrioid: OR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.57, 1.3, clear cell: OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.40, 1.2; serous: OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.80, 1.2). CONCLUSIONS: Given that estrogen-alone therapy has been shown to be associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that adding a progestin each day ameliorates the carcinogenic effects of estrogen on the cells of origin for all histotypes of ovarian cancer.

Menopausal hormone therapy prior to the diagnosis of ovarian cancer is associated with improved survival.

PURPOSE: Prior studies of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) and ovarian cancer survival have been limited by lack of hormone regimen detail and insufficient sample sizes. To address these limitations, a comprehensive analysis of 6419 post-menopausal women with pathologically confirmed ovarian carcinoma was conducted to examine the association between MHT use prior to diagnosis and survival. METHODS: Data from 15 studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium were included. MHT use was examined by type (estrogen-only (ET) or estrogen+progestin (EPT)), duration, and recency of use relative to diagnosis. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the association between hormone therapy use and survival. Logistic regression and mediation analysis was used to explore the relationship between MHT use and residual disease following debulking surgery. RESULTS: Use of ET or EPT for at least five years prior to diagnosis was associated with better ovarian cancer survival (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.87). Among women with advanced stage, high-grade serous carcinoma, those who used MHT were less likely to have any macroscopic residual disease at the time of primary debulking surgery (p for trend <0.01 for duration of MHT use). Residual disease mediated some (17%) of the relationship between MHT and survival. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-diagnosis MHT use for 5+ years was a favorable prognostic factor for women with ovarian cancer. This large study is consistent with prior smaller studies, and further work is needed to understand the underlying mechanism.

Statin therapy and association with ovarian cancer risk in the New England Case Control (NEC) study.

Statins are widely used to lower blood cholesterol and reduce risk for cardiovascular diseases, but attention has recently focused on a role in cancer prevention or therapy. Here we present data from a large case-control study addressing whether statin use can lower the risk for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Between 1992 and 2008, data including medications used for at least 6 months were collected from 2,040 cases with EOC and 2,100 frequency-matched controls without the disease who participated in the New England Case Control study. We used unconditional logistic regression controlling for matching factors and potential confounders to examine the association between statin use and the risk for EOC. Overall, women who used statins had 32% lower risk of ovarian cancer compared to non-users (Odds ratio (OR) 0.68, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.54-0.85), adjusting for the matching factors and other covariates. The reduced risk was most apparent in women taking a lipophilic statin who began use after age 49, and who had used them 2-4.9 years. Statin use was associated with lower risks for both serous and non-serous histologic subtypes with the strongest effect seen for mucinous and mixed epithelial subtypes. The association became apparent about a decade after the introduction of statins and did not appear to be confounded by indications for use of statins or medications used concomitantly. In this case-control study, statins were found to lower the risk for both serous and non-serous EOC and especially mucinous EOC.

A comprehensive gene-environment interaction analysis in Ovarian Cancer using genome-wide significant common variants.

As a follow-up to genome-wide association analysis of common variants associated with ovarian carcinoma (cancer), our study considers seven well-known ovarian cancer risk factors and their interactions with 28 genome-wide significant common genetic variants. The interaction analyses were based on data from 9971 ovarian cancer cases and 15,566 controls from 17 case-control studies. Likelihood ratio and Wald tests for multiplicative interaction and for relative excess risk due to additive interaction were used. The top multiplicative interaction was noted between oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use (ever vs. never) and rs13255292 (p value = 3.48 × 10-4 ). Among women with the TT genotype for this variant, the odds ratio for OCP use was 0.53 (95% CI = 0.46-0.60) compared to 0.71 (95%CI = 0.66-0.77) for women with the CC genotype. When stratified by duration of OCP use, women with 1-5 years of OCP use exhibited differential protective benefit across genotypes. However, no interaction on either the multiplicative or additive scale was found to be statistically significant after multiple testing correction. The results suggest that OCP use may offer increased benefit for women who are carriers of the T allele in rs13255292. On the other hand, for women carrying the C allele in this variant, longer (5+ years) use of OCP may reduce the impact of carrying the risk allele of this SNP. Replication of this finding is needed. The study presents a comprehensive analytic framework for conducting gene-environment analysis in ovarian cancer.

Joint exposure to smoking, excessive weight, and physical inactivity and survival of ovarian cancer patients, evidence from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

PURPOSE: Previous epidemiologic studies have shown that smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity are associated with poor survival following a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Yet, the combined relationship of these unfavorable lifestyle factors on ovarian cancer survival has not been sufficiently investigated. METHODS: Using data pooled from 13 studies, we examined the associations between combined exposures to smoking, overweight/obesity weight, and physical inactivity and overall survival (OS) as well as progression-free survival (PFS) among women diagnosed with invasive epithelial ovarian carcinoma (n = 7,022). Using age- and stage-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) associated with joint exposure to these factors. RESULTS: Combined exposure to current smoking, overweight/obesity, and physical inactivity prior to diagnosis was associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality compared to women who never smoked, had normal body mass index (BMI), and were physically active (HR = 1.37; 95% CI 1.10-1.70). The association for a joint exposure to these factors exceeded that of each exposure individually. In fact, exposure to both current smoking and overweight/obesity, and current smoking and physical inactivity was also associated with increased risk of death (HR = 1.28; 95% CI 1.08-1.52, and HR = 1.26; 95% CI 1.04-1.54, respectively). The associations were of a similar magnitude when former smoking was assessed in combination with the other exposures and when excessive weight was limited to obesity only. No significant associations were observed between joint exposure to any of these factors and PFS. CONCLUSIONS: Joint exposure to smoking, excessive weight, and physical inactivity may negatively impact survival of ovarian cancer patients. These results suggest the importance of examining the combined effect of lifestyle factors on ovarian cancer patients' survival.

Primordial germ cells as a potential shared cell of origin for mucinous cystic neoplasms of the pancreas and mucinous ovarian tumors.

Mucinous ovarian tumors (MOTs) morphologically and epidemiologically resemble mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) of the pancreas, sharing a similar stroma and both occurring disproportionately among young females. Additionally, MOTs and MCNs share similar clinical characteristics and immunohistochemical phenotypes. Exome sequencing has revealed frequent recurrent mutations in KRAS and RNF43 in both MOTs and MCNs. The cell of origin for these tumors remains unclear, but MOTs sometimes arise in the context of mature cystic teratomas and other primordial germ cell (PGC) tumors. We undertook the present study to investigate whether non-teratoma-associated MOTs and MCNs share a common cell of origin. Comparisons of the gene expression profiles of MOTs [including both the mucinous borderline ovarian tumors (MBOTs) and invasive mucinous ovarian carcinomas (MOCs)], high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas, ovarian surface epithelium, Fallopian tube epithelium, normal pancreatic tissue, pancreatic duct adenocarcinomas, MCNs, and single-cell RNA-sequencing of PGCs revealed that both MOTs and MCNs are more closely related to PGCs than to either eutopic epithelial tumors or normal epithelia. We hypothesize that MCNs may arise from PGCs that stopped in the dorsal pancreas during their descent to the gonads during early human embryogenesis, while MOTs arise from PGCs in the ovary. Together, these data suggest a common pathway for the development of MCNs and MOTs, and suggest that these tumors may be more properly classified as germ cell tumor variants. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Correlative polarizing light and scanning electron microscopy for the assessment of talc in pelvic region lymph nodes.

Perineal talc use is associated with ovarian carcinoma in many case-control studies. Such talc may migrate to pelvic organs and regional lymph nodes, with both clinical and legal significance. Our goal was to differentiate talc in pelvic lymph nodes due to exposure, versus contamination with talc in the laboratory. We studied 22 lymph nodes from ovarian tumor patients, some of which had documented talc exposure, to quantify talc using digestion of tissue taken from paraffin blocks and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX). Talc particles correlated significantly with surface contamination assessments using polarized light microscopy. After adjusting for surface contamination, talc burdens in nodes correlated strongly with perineal talc use. In a separate group of lymph nodes, birefringent particles within the same plane of focus as the tissues in histological sections were highly correlated with talc particles within the tissue by in situ SEM/EDX (r = 0.80; p < 0.0001). We conclude that since talc can be a surface contaminant from tissue collection/preparation, digestion measurements may be influenced by contamination. Instead, because they preserve anatomic landmarks and permit identification of particles in cells and tissues, polarized light microscopy and in situ SEM/EDX are recommended to assess talc in lymph nodes.

Stage Dependence, Cell-Origin Independence, and Prognostic Capacity of Serum Glycan Fucosylation, ß1-4 Branching, ß1-6 Branching, and α2-6 Sialylation in Cancer.

Glycans represent a promising but only marginally accessed source of cancer markers. We previously reported the development of a molecularly bottom-up approach to plasma and serum (P/S) glycomics based on glycan linkage analysis that captures features such as α2-6 sialylation, ß1-6 branching, and core fucosylation as single analytical signals. Based on the behavior of P/S glycans established to date, we hypothesized that the alteration of P/S glycans observed in cancer would be independent of the tissue in which the tumor originated yet exhibit stage dependence that varied little between cancers classified on the basis of tumor origin. Herein, the diagnostic utility of this bottom-up approach as applied to lung cancer patients (n = 127 stage I; n = 20 stage II; n = 81 stage III; and n = 90 stage IV) as well as prostate (n = 40 stage II), serous ovarian (n = 59 stage III), and pancreatic cancer patients (n = 15 rapid autopsy) compared to certifiably healthy individuals (n = 30), nominally healthy individuals (n = 166), and risk-matched controls (n = 300) is reported. Diagnostic performance in lung cancer was stage-dependent, with markers for terminal (total) fucosylation, α2-6 sialylation, ß1-4 branching, ß1-6 branching, and outer-arm fucosylation most able to differentiate cases from controls. These markers behaved in a similar stage-dependent manner in other types of cancer as well. Notable differences between certifiably healthy individuals and case-matched controls were observed. These markers were not significantly elevated in liver fibrosis. Using a Cox proportional hazards regression model, the marker for α2-6 sialylation was found to predict both progression and survival in lung cancer patients after adjusting for age, gender, smoking status, and stage. The potential mechanistic role of aberrant P/S glycans in cancer progression is discussed.

Menstrual pain and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer: Results from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

Menstrual pain, a common gynecological condition, has been associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer in some, but not all studies. Furthermore, potential variations in the association between menstrual pain and ovarian cancer by histologic subtype have not been adequately evaluated due to lack of power. We assessed menstrual pain using either direct questions about having experienced menstrual pain, or indirect questions about menstrual pain as indication for use of hormones or medications. We used multivariate logistic regression to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for the association between severe menstrual pain and ovarian cancer, adjusting for potential confounders and multinomial logistic regression to calculate ORs for specific histologic subtypes. We observed no association between ovarian cancer and menstrual pain assessed by indirect questions. Among studies using direct question, severe pain was associated with a small but significant increase in overall risk of ovarian cancer (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.13), after adjusting for endometriosis and other potential confounders. The association appeared to be more relevant for clear cell (OR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.10-1.99) and serous borderline (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.05-1.63) subtypes. In this large international pooled analysis of case-control studies, we observed a small increase in risk of ovarian cancer for women reporting severe menstrual pain. While we observed an increased ovarian cancer risk with severe menstrual pain, the possibility of recall bias and undiagnosed endometriosis cannot be excluded. Future validation in prospective studies with detailed information on endometriosis is needed.