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INTRODUCTION: Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among gynaecological cancers and is the tenth most frequent cancer among women. 80% of patients with advanced stage disease will experience a progression either during or after treatment.METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational study of all women referred to adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment for ovarian cancer between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014 at two university hospitals in Denmark.RESULTS: We included 142 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The median overall survival from diagnosis was 48.5 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 36.6-57.9 months). Median survival after the first, second, third, fourth and fifth progression was 19.3 (95% CI: 13.9-27-3), 11.4 (95% CI: 7.7-18.8), 9.5 (95% CI: 6.3-12.7), 8.3 (95% CI: 7.6-11.5) and 5.6 (95% CI: 2.9-not assessed) months, respectively. Median progression-free survival from diagnosis was 15.6 months (95% CI: 14.3-18.4 months). Median progression-free survival after first, second, third, fourth and fifth progression was 9.2 (95% CI: 7.7-10.6), 6.0 (95% CI: 3.5-7.7), 3.3 (95% CI: 2.6-4.6), 4.9 (95% CI: 3.6-8.3) and 3.0 (95% CI: 2.4-5.7) months, respectively. The most frequently used treatment at first progression was carboplatin and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (n = 37). The most used non-platinum containing treatment at progression was pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (n = 26) followed by paclitaxel (n = 23).CONCLUSIONS: Ovarian cancer remains a highly aggressive disease with most patients diagnosed in advanced stages. Treatment has not changed much in the past 15 years and the same is evident for the overall survival.FUNDING: Tobias Berg received an unrestricted research grant from the Danish Cancer Society.TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.

Background Approximately 10–15% of ovarian carcinomas (OC) are attributed to inherited susceptibility, the majority of which are due to mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2). These patients display superior clinical outcome, including enhanced sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy. Here, we seek to investigate whether BRCA1/2 status influences the response rate to single-agent pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in high grade serous (HGS) OC. Methods One hundred and forty-eight patients treated with single-agent PLD were identified retrospectively from the Edinburgh Ovarian Cancer Database. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) archival tumour material and sequenced using the Ion Ampliseq BRCA1 and BRCA2 panel. A minimum variant allele frequency threshold was applied to correct for sequencing artefacts associated with formalin fixation. Results A superior response rate to PLD was observed in patients with HGS OC who harboured variants likely to affect BRCA1 or BRCA2 function compared to the BRCA1/2 wild-type population (36%, 9 of 25 patients versus 12.1%, 7 of 58 patients; p = 0.016). An enhanced response rate was also seen in patients harbouring only the BRCA1 SNP rs1799950, predicted to be detrimental to BRCA1 function (50%, 3 of 6 patients versus 12.1%, 7 of 58 patients; p = 0.044). Conclusions These data demonstrate that HGS OC patients with BRCA1/2 variants predicted damaging to protein function experience superior sensitivity to PLD, consistent with impaired DNA repair. Further characterisation of rs1799950 is now warranted in relation to chemosensitivity and susceptibility to developing ovarian carcinoma. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-017-3981-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Although Temozolomide is effective against glioblastoma, the prognosis remains dismal and new regimens with synergistic activity are sought for. Methods In this phase-I/II trial, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Caelyx™, PEG-Dox) and prolonged administration of Temozolomide in addition to radiotherapy was investigated in 63 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. In phase-I, PEG-Dox was administered in a 3-by-3 dose-escalation regimen. In phase-II, 20 mg/m2 PEG-Dox was given once prior to radiotherapy and on days 1 and 15 of each 28-day cycle starting 4 weeks after radiotherapy. Temozolomide was given in a dose of 75 mg/m2 daily during radiotherapy (60 Gy) and 150-200 mg/m2 on days 1-5 of each 28-day cycle for 12 cycles or until disease progression. Results The toxicity of the combination of PEG-Dox, prolonged administration of Temozolomide, and radiotherapy was tolerable. The progression free survival after 12 months (PFS-12) was 30.2%, the median overall survival was 17.6 months in all patients including the ones from Phase-I. None of the endpoints differed significantly from the EORTC26981/NCIC-CE.3 data in a post-hoc statistical comparison. Conclusion Together, the investigated combination is tolerable and feasible. Neither the addition of PEG-Dox nor the prolonged administration of Temozolomide resulted in a meaningful improvement of the patient's outcome as compared to the EORTC26981/NCIC-CE.3 data Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov NCT00944801.