abstract: Circulating free DNA and p53 antibodies in plasma of patients with ovarian epithelial cancers (serous/mucinous)

Blogger's Note: the connection between KRAS mutations/mucinous may be due to GI (particularly colorectal cancer eg. common denominator = KRAS mutation/mucinous cell type), see also mucinous article - to be posted subsequent to this item

BACKGROUND:
This study was conducted in order to evaluate the significance of circulating free DNA (CFDNA), blood plasma p53 antibodies (p53-Ab) and mutations of KRAS gene in the prognosis of ovarian epithelial cancers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

A total of 126 patients were included in this study. KRAS mutations and CFDNA were detected by means of the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and enriched by the PCR-RFLP method. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to analyze plasma p53-Ab.

RESULTS:

KRAS mutations were detected in 27 (21.4%) of examined tumors. The frequency of KRAS mutations was especially high in mucinous cancers (P < 0.001). CFDNA and p53-Ab were frequently detected in patients with serous cancers in high grade (P < 0.001). The overall survival rate was significantly lower for patients with serous tumors and CFDNA and p53-Ab-positive than negative tumors (P = 0.022 and P < 0.001, respectively). In mucinous ovarian cancer, a worse overall survival was correlated with the KRAS mutations (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS:

The results of the present study suggested that a presence of KRAS mutations in mucinous ovarian cancer and CFDNA and p53-Ab in serous tumors was correlated with the highest risk of cancer progression.