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. 2020 Mar 4;20(1):185.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-020-6688-8.

Germline BRCA, chemotherapy response scores, and survival in the neoadjuvant treatment of ovarian cancer

Yong Jae Lee  1 , Hyun-Soo Kim  2 , John Hoon Rim  3 , Jung-Yun Lee  4 , Eun Ji Nam  1 , Sang Wun Kim  1 , Sunghoon Kim  1 , Young Tae Kim  1
Affiliations

Germline BRCA, chemotherapy response scores, and survival in the neoadjuvant treatment of ovarian cancer

Yong Jae Lee et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: To analyze the effects of BRCA1/2 mutations on chemotherapy response scores (CRS) and survival in a cohort of patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by interval debulking surgery (IDS).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 169 high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients who underwent a germline BRCA1/2 test and received three cycles of NAC at the Yonsei Cancer Center from 2006 to 2018. Chemotherapy response scores were compared in patients with and without BRCA1/2 mutations. The effects of BRCA1/2 mutations and CRS on survival were evaluated.

Results: BRCA1/2 mutations were detected in 47 (28.1%) of the 169 patients. Overall, 16 (34.0%) patients with BRCA1/2 mutations had a CRS 3 to chemotherapy compared to scores of 43 in patients (35.2%) without a mutation. Response scores of 3 in patients with BRCA1/2 mutations were not significantly associated with either improved progression-free survival (PFS) (P = 0.949) or overall survival (OS) (P = 0.168). However, CRS 3 in patients without BRCA mutations was significantly associated with both improved PFS (P = 0.030) and OS (P = 0.039). In patients with CRS1/2, carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations had better PFS (P = 0.0344) and OS (P = 0.043) than wild-type BRCA genotype patients.

Conclusion: In ovarian cancer patients treated with NAC, CRS did not predict survival for BRCA 1/2 mutation carriers but did for BRCA wild-type patients.

Keywords: Chemotherapy response scores; Germline BRCA; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Ovarian cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of the study population. NAC, neoadjuvant chemotherapy
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier curves of PFS (a) and OS (b) stratified by CRS in patients with BRCA1/2 mutations. CI, confidence interval; CRS, chemotherapy response score; PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan-Meier curves of PFS (a) and OS (b) stratified by CRS in patients without BRCA mutations. CI, confidence interval; CRS, chemotherapy response score; PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Kaplan-Meier curves of PFS (a) and OS (b) stratified by BRCA mutations and CRS. CI, confidence interval; CRS, chemotherapy response score; PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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