Ovarian Cancers Sensitive to Chemo Identified by Gene Mutations

(June 17, 2015) Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have identified a new class of gene mutations that may contribute to outcomes in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Research on the gene family known as ADAMTS could open up a new genetic avenue for the design of ovarian cancer therapies. The findings were published in JAMA Oncology. OCRF grantee Anil Sood, MD, was an author on the paper, as was OCRF Scientific Advisory Committee member Douglas Levine, MD.

The study examined data from the Cancer Genome Atlas to determine association between novel gene mutations in ovarian cancer and overall survival of patients, survival without cancer progression and response to chemotherapy.

The team looked the years 2009 to 2014 and identified mutations from eight members of the ADAMTS family among the 512 cases of cancer studied.

The results showed a significantly higher rate of sensitivity to chemotherapy within the group with these mutations.

Senior author Wei Zhang, PhD, commented that “”The study’s findings are exciting because early identification and differentiation of patients with chemotherapy-resistant disease could allow enrollment in clinical trials with alternative therapeutics rather than ineffective chemotherapy.”

Read more here (MedPage Today) and read the abstract here.