open access: Feb 13th - PLoS ONE: Angiogenic mRNA and microRNA Gene Expression Signature Predicts a Novel Subtype of Serous Ovarian Cancer

"Advanced epithelial ovarian cancer is notable for initial sensitivity to platinum- and taxane-based chemotherapy [1], [2], but the vast majority of women will develop recurrent ovarian cancer within 12 to 24 months and will eventually die from increasingly platinum- and chemotherapy-resistant disease. One possible reason that ovarian cancer remains refractory to therapy is that there are distinct molecular subtypes, which different cellular properties, each of which may require different therapeutic approaches to effectively treat the disease."

"Our goal was to identify robust molecular subtypes of high-grade serous ovarian cancer and sets of functionally defined classification genes that might give insight into potential therapies."

"In the analysis presented here, we focused on a single histological type—high-grade serous ovarian cancer. We chose this because it is by far the most common histologic subtype of ovarian cancer and the one that is most responsive to chemotherapy. Moreover the vast majority of published gene expression data, including that from the TCGA, is from patients with high-grade serious cancer. Although there are other recognized ovarian histological subtypes, including mucinous, clear cell and endometrioid cancers, we did not have sufficient numbers of these to search for subtypes or to robustly validate their existence in independent datasets."

Overcoming TRAIL resistance in ovarian carcinoma

CONCLUSION: Continued efforts with combination therapy designed to target multiple steps in apoptotic pathways may not only improve the efficacy of TRAIL-mediated therapies, but may also improve quality of life for ovarian cancer patients by reducing toxicity associated with cancer therapy.

6-Thioguanine Selectively Kills BRCA2-Defective Tumors and Overcomes PARP Inhibitor Resistance

"Altogether, our data show that 6TG efficiently kills BRCA2-defective tumors and suggest that 6TG may be effective in the treatment of advanced tumors that have developed resistance to PARP inhibitors or platinum-based chemotherapy. Cancer Res; 70(15); OF1-9. (c)2010 AACR."

full free access: Clinical relevance of extent of extreme drug resistance in epithelial ovarian carcinoma (repost from Jan 2010)

Note: also note reference materials included in this paper

Chemotherapy Resistance as a Predictor of Progression-Free Survival in Ovarian Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Surgical Cytoreduction Followed by Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy: A Southwest Oncology Group Study