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Background: Epigenetic alterations in ctDNA are highly promising as a source of novel potential liquid biopsy biomarkers and comprise a very promising liquid biopsy approach in ovarian cancer, for early diagnosis, prognosis and response to treatment. Methods: In the present study, we examined the methylation status of six gene promoters (BRCA1, CST6, MGMT, RASSF10, SLFN11 and USP44) in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). We evaluated the prognostic significance of DNA methylation of these six gene promoters in primary tumors (FFPEs) and plasma cfDNA samples from patients with early, advanced and metastatic HGSOC. Results: We report for the first time that the DNA methylation of SLFN11 in plasma cfDNA was significantly correlated with worse PFS (p = 0.045) in advanced stage HGSOC. Conclusions: Our results strongly indicate that SLFN11 epigenetic inactivation could be a predictor of resistance to platinum drugs in ovarian cancer. Our results should be further validated in studies based on a larger cohort of patients, in order to further explore whether the DNA methylation of SLFN11 promoter could serve as a potential prognostic DNA methylation biomarker and a predictor of resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancer. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Elena Ioana Braicu,1 Hrvoje Luketina,1 Rolf Richter,1 Dan Cacsire Castillo-Tong,2 Sandrina Lambrechts,4 Sven Mahner,5 Nicole Concin,6 Monika Mentze,1 Robert Zeillinger,2,3 Ignace Vergote,4 Jalid Sehouli1 1Department of Gynecology, European Competence Center for Ovarian Cancer, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, 3Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Translational Oncology, General Hospital of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Universitaire Ziekenhuizen Leuven, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 5Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; 6Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, AustriaPurpose: Hypoxia is a common phenomenon encountered in solid cancers, leading to chemotherapy resistance and therefore to aggressiveness of the disease. The homeostatic response to hypoxia is mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of HIF1α in patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer.Methods: In this multicentric study, 275 patients with advanced primary epithelial ovarian cancer were included. All patients underwent cytoreductive surgery with maximal surgical effort and adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy. HIF1α expression was analyzed in tissue lysates, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results: HIF1α was detected in 79.3% of the tissue samples. Patients with increased HIF1α expression (cutoff: 80 pg/mg protein) in tumoral tissue lysates were more likely to have less favorable survival. HIF1α (P=0.009, hazard ratio [HR] 2.505, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.252–5.013) together with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (III versus IV) (P=0.013, HR 0.540, 95% CI 0.332–0.878), histology (P=0.007, HR 2.748, 95% CI 1.315–5.743), presence of peritoneal carcinomatosis (P=0.014, HR 2.176, 95% CI 1.170–4.046), residual tumor mass (P=0.017, HR 1.641, 95% CI 1.091–2.468), and response to platinum-based chemotherapy (P

Evidence of the involvement of cyclin genes in genetic alterations in human cancer is growing. In the present study, we investigated the amplification, in human breast and ovarian cancer, of 5 cyclin genes; cyclin A, cyclin D1, cyclin D2, cyclin D3 and cyclin E. For this purpose, a series of 1,171 breast and 237 ovarian tumors tested for DNA amplification by Southern blotting and a subset of 132 breast and 22 ovarian cancers were analyzed for RNA expression levels by slot-blot and Northern blotting. In breast tumors, only cyclin D1 was found to be activated in a sizeable fraction of the tumors (amplification 12.6%, overexpression 19%). Cyclin A, D2, D3, and E genes never, or only on rare occasions, showed increased DNA copy numbers and were never found overexpressed at the RNA level. Amplification of cyclin D1 correlated with ER+ breast cancer and the presence of lymph-node metastasis. Interestingly, we were also able to determine an association with invasive lobular carcinoma. Our data suggest that cyclin D1 activation determines the evolution of a particular subset of estrogen-responsive tumors. Data obtained in ovarian tumors contrasted with observations in breast cancer. Cyclin D1 DNA amplification was much less frequent in ovarian than in breast tumors (3.3% vs. 12.6%), whereas cyclin E amplification and overexpression were observed in a significant number of cases (12.5% and 18.0% respectively). Cyclin A, cyclin D2 and D3 rarely showed anomalies at the DNA level and were never overexpressed. No clear correlation could be observed between amplification of the cyclin E gene and tumor type, stage or grade in ovarian cancer. Data presented here suggest distinct pathways of cyclin activation in human breast and ovarian cancer.

Chromosome 17 is a frequent target during breast-cancer formation and progression. It has been shown to be affected by allele losses at multiple sites, as well as by DNA amplification. Our aim was to delineate a map of the genetic alterations on chromosome 17 in a given set of breast tumors. To this end we analyzed 151 pairs of tumor and cognate lymphocyte DNAs by Southern blotting with 5 RFLP or VNTR probes and by PCR at 8 CA repeat polymorphic loci for LOHs. Moreover, we studied DNA amplification of the evi2, erbB2, thra I, gcsf and rara genes. Data presented here point strongly to the existence of 5 distinct regions of allele losses on chromosome 17: 2 on 17p, 3 on 17q. Of the 2 regions on 17p, one involves tp53 while the second is located more distally toward the telomere. LOH was found in 45.9% and 58.8% respectively. The 3 regions on 17q are located: (i) on the proximal portion of the long arm band q21, corresponding to the brcaI region; (ii) in a central region defined by the marker D17S74; (iii) on the distal part of 17q (band q25) characterized by losses of the marker D17S24. Each of these regions presented respectively allele losses in 47.5%, 33.3% and 40.8% of the informative tumors. Whereas some tumors presented patterns of LOH consistent with the loss of a complete chromosomal arm or of large portions of the chromosome, a high proportion of the analyzed tumors showed interstitial losses. Amplifications were found in 15% of the tumors and were centered around erbB2. An altered chromosome 17 (bearing an LOH or a DNA amplification) was found in more than 80% of the breast tumor set analyzed here and multiple anomalies affecting this chromosome were often detected in the same sample. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.