High grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSC) are deadly malignancies that relapse despite carboplatin chemotherapy. Here we show that 16 independent primary HGSCs contain a CA125 negative population enriched for carboplatin resistant cancer initiating cells. Transcriptome analysis reveals up-regulation of homologous recombination DNA repair and anti-apoptotic signals in this population. While treatment with carboplatin enriches for CA125 negative cells, co-treatment with carboplatin and birinapant eliminates these cells in HGSCs expressing high levels of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein cIAP in the CA125 negative population. Birinapant sensitizes CA125 negative cells to carboplatin by mediating degradation of cIAP causing cleavage of caspase-8 and restoration of apoptosis. This co-therapy significantly improved disease free survival in vivo compared to either therapy alone in tumor-bearing mice. These findings suggest that therapeutic strategies that target CA125 negative cells may be useful in the treatment of HGSC. Overall design: mRNA profiles of CA125 positive and negative populations, generated by next generation sequencing of populations FACS isolated from 10 independent dissociated primary human high grade serous ovarian cancers, were compared.
An apoptosis-enhancing drug overcomes platinum resistance in a tumour-initiating subpopulation of ovarian cancer.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesHigh grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSC) are deadly malignancies that relapse despite carboplatin chemotherapy. Many commercially ovarian cancer cell lines are not good models for HGSC. Here we demonstrate that 3 low passage cell lines derived from HGSC have similar transcriptomes to their parental bulk tumors. These cell lines recapitulated tumor characteristics of the primary cancer and had responded to therapy in the same manner as primary HGSC cells, demonstrating they are accurate models for HGSCs. Overall design: mRNA profiles of low passage high grade serous tumor cell lines and their parental tumors, generated by next generation sequencing, were compared.
An apoptosis-enhancing drug overcomes platinum resistance in a tumour-initiating subpopulation of ovarian cancer.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesHalf of all human cancers lose p53 function by missense mutations, with an unknown fraction of these containing p53 in a self-aggregated, amyloid-like state. Here we show that a cell-penetrating peptide, ReACp53, designed to inhibit p53 amyloid formation, rescues p53 function in cancer cell lines and in organoids derived from high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas (HGSOC), an aggressive cancer characterized by ubiquitous p53 mutations. Rescued p53 behaves similarly to its wild-type counterpart in regulating target genes, reducing cell proliferation and increasing cell death. Intraperitoneal administration decreases tumor proliferation and shrinks xenografts in vivo. Our data show the effectiveness of targeting a specific aggregation defect of p53 and its potential applicability to HGSOCs. Overall design: Vehicle vs. ReACp53 treatment in 4 different samples: 2 cell lines (MCF7 w/ WT p53 as negative control and OVCAR3 w/ R248Q p53) and 2 clinical specimens (primary cells from patient #8 w/ WT p53 as negative control and primary cells from patient #1 w/ R248Q p53)
A Designed Inhibitor of p53 Aggregation Rescues p53 Tumor Suppression in Ovarian Carcinomas.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesA total of 58 genes were up-regulated (> 1.5 fold-change) while 117 genes were down-regulated
Mutant p53-R273H mediates cancer cell survival and anoikis resistance through AKT-dependent suppression of BCL2-modifying factor (BMF).
Specimen part, Cell line
View Samples