bims-tumhet 2021-10-24 papers

Issue of 2021‒10‒24
four papers selected by
Sergio Marchini
Humanitas Research

Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2021 Oct;155 Suppl 1 61-85

Cancer of the ovary, fallopian tube, and peritoneum: 2021 update.

Jonathan S Berek, Malte Renz, Sean Kehoe, Lalit Kumar, Michael Friedlander.

In 2014, FIGO's Committee for Gynecologic Oncology revised the staging of ovarian cancer, incorporating ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancer into the same system. Most of these malignancies are high-grade serous carcinomas (HGSC). Stage IC is now divided into three categories: IC1 (surgical spill); IC2 (capsule ruptured before surgery or tumor on ovarian or fallopian tube surface); and IC3 (malignant cells in the ascites or peritoneal washings). The updated staging includes a revision of Stage IIIC based on spread to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes alone without intraperitoneal dissemination. This category is now subdivided into IIIA1(i) (metastasis ≤10 mm in greatest dimension), and IIIA1(ii) (metastasis >10 mm in greatest dimension). Stage IIIA2 is now "microscopic extrapelvic peritoneal involvement with or without positive retroperitoneal lymph node" metastasis. This review summarizes the genetics, surgical management, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies for epithelial cancers, and the treatment of ovarian germ cell and stromal malignancies.

Keywords: FIGO Cancer Report; cancer staging; chemotherapy; fallopian tube; ovarian; ovary; peritoneum

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.13878

Biomedicines. 2021 Sep 26. pii: 1315. [Epub ahead of print]9(10):

Liquid Biopsies in Sarcoma Clinical Practice: Where Do We Stand?

Pia van der Laan, Winan J van Houdt, Daan van den Broek, Neeltje Steeghs, Winette T A van der Graaf.

Sarcomas are rare tumors of bone and soft tissue with a mesenchymal origin. This uncommon type of cancer is marked by a high heterogeneity, consisting of over 70 subtypes. Because of this broad spectrum, their treatment requires a subtype-specific therapeutic approach. Tissue biopsy is currently the golden standard for sarcoma diagnosis, but it has its limitations. Over the recent years, methods to detect, characterize, and monitor cancer through liquid biopsy have evolved rapidly. The analysis of circulating biomarkers in peripheral blood, such as circulating tumor cells (CTC) or circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), could provide real-time information on tumor genetics, disease state, and resistance mechanisms. Furthermore, it traces tumor evolution and can assess tumor heterogeneity. Although the first results in sarcomas are encouraging, there are technical challenges that need to be addressed for implementation in clinical practice. Here, we summarize current knowledge about liquid biopsies in sarcomas and elaborate on different strategies to integrate liquid biopsy into sarcoma clinical care.

Keywords: CTC; biomarker; cell-free DNA; clinical practice; ctDNA; liquid biopsy; sarcoma

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9101315

Cancers (Basel). 2021 Oct 19. pii: 5242. [Epub ahead of print]13(20):

Genomic Sub-Classification of Ovarian Clear Cell Carcinoma Revealed by Distinct Mutational Signatures.

Douglas V N P Oliveira, Tine H Schnack, Tim S Poulsen, Anne P Christiansen, Claus K Høgdall, Estrid V Høgdall.

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is characterized by dismal prognosis, partially due to its low sensitivity to standard chemotherapy regimen. It is also well-known for presenting unique molecular features in comparison to other epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes. Here, we aim to identify potential subgroups of patients in order to (1) determine their molecular features and (2) characterize their mutational signature. Furthermore, we sought to perform the investigation based on a potentially clinically relevant setting. To that end, we assessed the mutational profile and genomic instability of 55 patients extracted from the Gynecologic Cancer Database (DGCD) by using a panel comprised of 409 cancer-associated genes and a microsatellite assay, respectively; both are currently used in our routine environment. In accordance with previous findings, ARID1A and PIK3CA were the most prevalent mutations, present in 49.1% and 41.8%, respectively. From those, the co-occurrence of ARID1A and PIK3CA mutations was observed in 36.1% of subjects, indicating that this association might be a common feature of OCCC. The microsatellite instability frequency was low across samples. An unbiased assessment of signatures identified the presence of three subgroups, where "PIK3CA" and "Double hit" (with ARID1A and PIK3CA double mutation) subgroups exhibited unique signatures, whilst "ARID1A" and "Undetermined" (no mutations on ARID1A nor PIK3CA) subgroups showed similar profiles. Those differences were further indicated by COSMIC signatures. Taken together, the current findings suggest that OCCC presents distinct mutational landscapes within its group, which may indicate different therapeutic approaches according to its subgroup. Although encouraging, it is noteworthy that the current results are limited by sample size, and further investigation on a larger group would be crucial to better elucidate them.

Keywords: NGS; clear cell carcinoma; genomic instability; mutational signature; ovarian cancer; patient stratification; translational medicine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13205242

Front Oncol. 2021 ;11 754094

Next Generation Sequencing of Tumor and Matched Plasma Samples: Identification of Somatic Variants in ctDNA From Ovarian Cancer Patients.

Ana Barbosa, Pedro Pinto, Ana Peixoto, Joana Guerra, Manuela Pinheiro, Catarina Santos, Carla Pinto, Carla Escudeiro, Carla Bartosch, Rui Santos, Andreia Brandão, João Silva, Manuel R Teixeira.

Genetic testing to detect somatic alterations is usually performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples. However, tumor molecular profiling through ctDNA analysis may be particularly interesting with the emergence of targeted therapies for ovarian cancer (OC), mainly when tumor is not available and biopsy is not viable, also allowing representation of multiple neoplastic subclones. Using a custom panel of 27 genes, next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed on tumor and matched plasma samples from 96 OC patients, which were combined in two groups (treatment naive and post-treatment). Overall, at least one somatic variant present in the tumor sample was also detected in the matched plasma sample in 35.6% of the patients, a percentage that increased to 69.6% of the treatment naive patients and 83.3% of those with stage IV disease, showing the potential of ctDNA analysis as an alternative to identify somatic variants in these patients, namely those that have predictive value for targeted therapy. In fact, of the two treatment-naive patients with somatic BRCA1 variants identified in tumor samples, in one of them we detected in ctDNA a BRCA1 somatic variant that was present in the tumor with a VAF of 53%, but not in the one that had a VAF of 5.4%. We also showed that ctDNA analysis has a complementary role to molecular unraveling of inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity, as exemplified by one patient diagnosed with bilateral OC in which different somatic variants from both tumors were detected in ctDNA. Interestingly, as these bilateral tumors shared a rare combination of two of the three variants identified in ctDNA, we could conclude that these morphologically different tumors were clonally related and not synchronous independent neoplasias. Moreover, in the post-treatment group of patients with plasma samples collected after surgery, those with detectable somatic variants had poor prognosis when compared with patients with no detectable somatic variants, highlighting the potential of ctDNA analysis to identify patients at higher risk of recurrence. Concluding, this study demonstrated that somatic variants can be detected in plasma samples of a significant proportion of OC patients, supporting the use of NGS-based ctDNA testing for noninvasive tumor molecular profiling and to stratify patients according to prognosis.

Keywords: NGS - next generation sequencing; ctDNA = circulating tumor DNA; liquid biopsy; ovarian cancer; tumor hetereogeneity

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.754094