scholarly journals Roads to the strategic targeting of ovarian cancer treatment

Reproduction ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 161 (1) ◽  
pp. R1-R11
Author(s):  
Griselda Irusta

Although ovarian cancer mortality rates have slightly declined in the last 40 years, ovarian cancer continues to be the eighth cause of cancer death in women. Ovarian cancer is characterized by its high response to treatments but also by its high rate of recurrence. Although treatments are limited to cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy, other therapies using antiangiogenic agents and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors are being tested. Nevertheless, these therapeutic strategies have had poor results and new potential targets and approaches are thus needed. The present review focuses on the recent evidence on antiangiogenic strategies in ovarian cancer cells and on the mechanisms governed by Notch and β-catenin proteins. It also describes the concept of ‘vascular normalization’ by using the platelet-derived growth factor, PDGFB, molecule as a tool to regulate ovarian tumor angiogenesis and thus improve ovarian tumor treatment. It has been reported that alterations in the Notch system components and changes in the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling, the other pathway of our interest, are relevant to molecular events that contribute to ovarian cancer development. Thus, in this review, we consider these aspects of the ovarian tumor biology as potential new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of this disease.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 449-467
Author(s):  
Zhiquan Liang ◽  
Ziwen Lu ◽  
Yafei Zhang ◽  
Dongsheng Shang ◽  
Ruyan Li ◽  
...  

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide from gynecological malignancies, mainly because there are few early symptoms and the disease is generally diagnosed at an advanced stage. In addition, despite the effectiveness of cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer and the high response rates to chemotherapy, survival has improved little over the last 20 years. The management of patients with ovarian cancer also remains similar despite studies showing striking differences and heterogeneity among different subtypes. It is therefore clear that novel targeted therapeutics are urgently needed to improve clinical outcomes for ovarian cancer. To that end, several membrane receptors associated with pivotal cellular processes and often aberrantly overexpressed in ovarian cancer cells have emerged as potential targets for receptor-mediated therapeutic strategies including specific agents and multifunctional delivery systems based on ligand-receptor binding. This review focuses on the profiles and potentials of such strategies proposed for ovarian cancer treatment and imaging.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 3916
Author(s):  
Entaz Bahar ◽  
Ji-Ye Kim ◽  
Dong-Chul Kim ◽  
Hyun-Soo Kim ◽  
Hyonok Yoon

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 inhibitors (PARPi) are used to treat recurrent ovarian cancer (OC) patients due to greater survival benefits and minimal side effects, especially in those patients with complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy. However, acquired resistance of platinum-based chemotherapy leads to the limited efficacy of PARPi monotherapy in most patients. Twist is recognized as a possible oncogene and contributes to acquired cisplatin resistance in OC cells. In this study, we show how Twist knockdown cisplatin-resistant (CisR) OC cells blocked DNA damage response (DDR) to sensitize these cells to a concurrent treatment of cisplatin as a platinum-based chemotherapy agent and niraparib as a PARPi on in vitro two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cell culture. To investigate the lethality of PARPi and cisplatin on Twist knockdown CisR OC cells, two CisR cell lines (OV90 and SKOV3) were established using step-wise dose escalation method. In addition, in vitro 3D spheroidal cell model was generated using modified hanging drop and hydrogel scaffolds techniques on poly-2-hydroxylethly methacrylate (poly-HEMA) coated plates. Twist expression was strongly correlated with the expression of DDR proteins, PARP1 and XRCC1 and overexpression of both proteins was associated with cisplatin resistance in OC cells. Moreover, combination of cisplatin (Cis) and niraparib (Nira) produced lethality on Twist-knockdown CisR OC cells, according to combination index (CI). We found that Cis alone, Nira alone, or a combination of Cis+Nira therapy increased cell death by suppressing DDR proteins in 2D monolayer cell culture. Notably, the combination of Nira and Cis was considerably effective against 3D-cultures of Twist knockdown CisR OC cells in which Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is upregulated, leading to initiation of mitochondrial-mediated cell death. In addition, immunohistochemically, Cis alone, Nira alone or Cis+Nira showed lower ki-67 (cell proliferative marker) expression and higher cleaved caspase-3 (apoptotic marker) immuno-reactivity. Hence, lethality of PARPi with the combination of Cis on Twist knockdown CisR OC cells may provide an effective way to expand the therapeutic potential to overcome platinum-based chemotherapy resistance and PARPi cross resistance in OC.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haizhi Huang ◽  
Allen Y. Chen ◽  
Xingqian Ye ◽  
Rongfa Guan ◽  
Gary O. Rankin ◽  
...  

Among women worldwide, ovarian cancer is one of the most dangerous cancers. Patients undergoing platinum-based chemotherapy might get adverse side effects and develop resistance to drugs. In recent years, natural compounds have aroused growing attention in cancer treatment. Galangin inhibited the growth of two cell lines, A2780/CP70 and OVCAR-3, more strongly than the growth of a normal ovarian cell line, IOSE 364. The IC50 values of galangin on proliferation of A2780/CP70, OVCAR-3 and IOSE 364 cells were 42.3, 34.5, and 131.3 μM, respectively. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that galangin preferentially induced apoptosis in both ovarian cancer cells with respect to normal ovarian cells. Galangin treatment increased the level of cleaved caspase-3 and -7 via the p53-dependent intrinsic apoptotic pathway by up-regulating Bax protein and via the p53-dependent extrinsic apoptotic pathway by up-regulating DR5 protein. By down-regulating the level of p53 with 20 μM pifithrin-α (PFT-α), the apoptotic rates of OVCAR-3 cells induced by galangin treatment (40 μM) were significantly decreased from 18.2% to 10.2%, indicating that p53 is a key regulatory protein in galangin-induced apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells. Although galangin up-regulated the expression of p21, it had little effect on the cell cycle of the two ovarian cancer cell lines. Furthermore, the levels of phosphorylated Akt and phosphorylated p70S6K were decreased through galangin treatment, suggesting that the Akt/p70S6K pathways might be involved in the apoptosis. Our results suggested that galangin is selective against cancer cells and can be used for the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancers in humans.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 5036-5036
Author(s):  
Zachary C. Dobbin ◽  
Ashwini A. Katre ◽  
Angela Ziebarth ◽  
Monjri Shah ◽  
Adam D. Steg ◽  
...  

5036 Background: Current xenograft and transgenic models of ovarian cancer are mainly homogeneous and poorly predict response to therapy. Use of patient tumors may represent a better model for tumor biology and offer potential to test personalized medicine approaches, but poor take rates and questions of recapitulation of patient tumors have limited this approach. We have developed a protocol for improved feasibility of such a model and examined its similarity to the patient tumor. Methods: Under IRB and IACUC approval, 23 metastatic ovarian cancer samples were collected at the time of tumor reductive surgery. Samples were implanted either subcutaneously (SQ), intraperitoneally (IP), in the mammary fat pad (MFP), or in the subrenal capsule (SRC) and monitored for tumor growth. Cohorts from 8 xenolines were treated with combined carboplatin and paclitaxel or vehicle, and response to therapy compared between xenografts and patients. Expression of tumor-initiating cell (TIC) markers ALDH1, CD133, and CD44 was assessed by immunohistochemistry in tumors from patients and treated and untreated xenografts. Results: At least one SQ implanted tumor developed in 91.3% of xenografts, significantly higher than in the MFP (63.6%), IP (23.5%), or SRC (8%). Xenografts were similar in expression of putative TIC’s compared to patient tumors. The patients and the xenografts also have similar responses to chemotherapy in that xenografts from patients with a partial response responded more slowly than those from patients achieving a complete response (45 vs 21 days, p=.004). Treated xenografts were more densely composed of TICs. ALDH1 increased to 36.1% from 16.2% (p=0.002) and CD133 increased to 33.8% from 16.2% (p=0.026). Conclusions: Xenoline development can be achieved at a high rate when tumors collected from metastatic sites are implanted SQ. These xenografts are similar to patient tumors with regard to chemotherapy response and TIC expression.. This model may be a more accurate model for in vivo pre-clinical studies as compared to current models. Also, as treated xenografts become chemoresistant, this model is well positioned to evaluate targeted therapies aimed at the most aggressive populations in a heterogeneous tumor.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e13563-e13563
Author(s):  
Dennis C. DeSimone ◽  
Trung T. Nguyen ◽  
Eugen Brailiou ◽  
John C. Taylor ◽  
Gabriela Cristina Brailoiu ◽  
...  

e13563 Background: Most ovarian cancer patients are treated with platinum-based chemotherapy but eventually relapse with incurable disease. The G protein-coupled estrogen receptor GPER (GPR30) mediates Ca2+ mobilization in response to estrogen and G-1, a synthetic agonist. Large and sustained Ca2+ responses can lead to mitochondrial Ca2+ overload and apoptosis. Hence, we evaluated whether G-1 could induce apoptosis in cisplatin-sensitive A2780 and isogenic cisplatin–resistant CP70 (14-fold resistant), C30 (70-fold resistant) and C200 (157-fold resistant) human ovarian cancer cells. Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL protect mitochondria from Ca2+overload, and were overexpressed in these cisplatin-resistant cells; thus we also examined combining the Bcl-2 family inhibitor navitoclax with G-1. Methods: Cytoplasmic [Ca2+]c and mitochondrial [Ca2+]m were monitored using microscopy and fluorescent Ca2+ probes. Cell cycle, apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were assessed by flow cytometry of propidium iodide, Annexin V and DiIC1(5) -stained cells. The intracellular Ca2+ chelator BAPTA was used to block Ca2+mobilization. Results: Expression of the 53kDa GPER but not the 38 kDa isoform progressively increased with increasing cisplatin resistance. G-1 elicited sustained [Ca2+]c rises that correlated with 53 kDa GPER expression, followed by rises in [Ca2+]m. In all cells, 2.5 μM G-1 blocked cell cycle progression at G2/M, inhibited proliferation, and induced apoptosis (A2780 > C30 > CP70 ≥ C200). G-1 induced p53, caspase-3 and PARP cleavage, and MMP loss. BAPTA prevented G-1’s cell cycle and apoptotic effects in cells showing large Ca2+ mobilization responses but did not in cells with small Ca2+responses. Combining navitoclax with G-1 superadditively decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis. Conclusions: G-1 blocked cell cycle progression and induced apoptosis via a Ca2+-dependent pathway in cells expressing high 53 kDa GPER levels, but via a Ca2+-independent pathway in cells with low 53 kDa GPER expression. G-1 also interacted cooperatively with naviticlax. Therefore, G-1 plus navitoclax shows potential for therapeutic use in platinum-sensitive and -resistant ovarian cancer.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e17050-e17050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Trillsch ◽  
Valentina Preinfalk ◽  
Martina Rahmeh ◽  
Marianne Vogel ◽  
Bastian Czogalla ◽  
...  

e17050 Background: New therapeutic approaches for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients are urgently needed. In this context, Wnt signaling appears to be a promising target so that inhibition of this pathway in platinum-resistant cell lines was aim of the present study. Methods: The ovarian cancer cell line A2780 and its platinum-resistant clone A2780cis were treated with different concentrations of Wnt singaling inhibitors SB216761, XAV939, and triptolides. Metabolic activity and cell viability was estimated by MTT cell proliferation assays. Immunohistochemistry for ß-Catenin visualized activity of the Wnt pathway. Results: MTT proliferation tests revealed an impaired proliferation following treatment with all three agents. While triptolides already led to significantly reduced metabolic activity after 48h, this effect was seen for SB216761 and XAV939 not before 72h. Immunohistochemistry for ß-Catenin confirmed inhibition of Wnt signaling. Following XAV939 treatment of A2780cis, ß-Catenin signals shifted from the nucleus towards the cell membrane. Conclusions: Re-sensitizing platinum-resistant ovarian cancer cells for platinum-based chemotherapy by inhibition of Wnt signaling seems to be mechanism visualized by the translocation of ß-Catenin from the nucleus towards the cell membrane. In this context, a dose-dependent response was noted for XAV939. Inhibition of Wnt Signaling appears to be a prospective therapeutic approach for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly K. Altman ◽  
Duy T. Nguyen ◽  
Santosh B. Patel ◽  
Jada M. Fambrough ◽  
Aaron M. Beedle ◽  
...  

The regulator of G-protein signaling 5 (RGS5) belongs to a family of GTPase activators that terminate signaling cascades initiated by extracellular mediators and G-protein-coupled receptors. RGS5 has an interesting dual biological role. One functional RGS5 role is as a pericyte biomarker influencing the switch to angiogenesis during malignant progression. Its other functional role is to promote apoptosis in hypoxic environments. We set out to clarify the extent to which RGS5 expression regulates tumor progression—whether it plays a pathogenic or protective role in ovarian tumor biology. We thus constructed an inducible gene expression system to achieve RGS5 expression in HeyA8-MDR ovarian cancer cells. Through this we observed that inducible RGS5 expression significantly reducesin vitroBrdU-positive HeyA8-MDR cells, although this did not correlate with a reduction in tumor volume observed using anin vivomouse model of ovarian cancer. Interestingly, mice bearing RGS5-expressing tumors demonstrated an increase in survival compared with controls, which might be attributed to the vast regions of necrosis observed by pathological examination. Additionally, mice bearing RGS5-expressing tumors were less likely to have ulcerated tumors. Taken together, this data supports the idea that temporal expression and stabilization of RGS5 could be a valuable tactic within the context of a multicomponent approach for modulating tumor progression.


Author(s):  
Linan Xing ◽  
Songyu Tian ◽  
Wanqi Mi ◽  
Yongjian Zhang ◽  
Yunyan Zhang ◽  
...  

Ovarian cancer is the most frequent cause of death among gynecologic malignancies. A total of 80% of patients who have completed platinum-based chemotherapy suffer from relapse and develop resistance within 2 years. In the present study, we obtained patients' complete platinum (cisplatin and carboplatin) medication information from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and then divided them into two categories: resistance and sensitivity. Difference analysis was performed to screen differentially expressed genes (DEgenes) related to platinum response. Subsequently, we annotated DEgenes into the protein–protein interaction network as seed nodes and analyzed them by random walk. Finally, second-ranking protease serine 1 gene (PRSS1) was selected as a candidate gene for verification analysis. PRSS1's expression pattern was continuously studied in Oncomine and cBio Cancer Genomic Portal databases, revealing the key roles of PRSS1 in ovarian cancer formation. Hereafter, we conducted in-depth explorations on PRSS1's platinum response to ovarian cancer through tissue and cytological experiments. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot assay results indicated that PRSS1 expression levels in platinum-resistant samples (tissue/cell) were significantly higher than in samples sensitive to platinum. By cell transfection assay, we observed that knockdown of PRSS1 reduced the resistance of ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin. Meanwhile, overexpression of PRSS1 increased the resistance to cisplatin. In conclusion, we identified a novel risk gene PRSS1 related to ovarian cancer platinum response and confirmed its key roles using multiple levels of low-throughput experiments, revealing a new treatment strategy based on a novel target factor for overcoming cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer.


Author(s):  
Renee Cowan ◽  
Dennis Chi ◽  
Sean Kehoe ◽  
Matthew Nankivell ◽  
Alexandra Leary

Primary debulking surgery (PDS) followed by platinum-based chemotherapy has been the cornerstone of treatment for advanced ovarian cancer for decades. Primary debulking surgery has been repeatedly identified as one of the key factors in improving survival in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, especially when minimal or no residual disease is left behind. Achieving these results sometimes requires extensive abdominal and pelvic surgical procedures and consultation with other surgical teams. Some clinicians who propose a primary chemotherapy approach reported an increased likelihood of leaving no macroscopic disease after surgery and improved patient-reported outcomes and quality-of-life (QOL) measures. Given the ongoing debate regarding the relative benefit of PDS versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), tumor biology may aid in patient selection for each approach. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy offers the opportunity for in vivo chemosensitivity testing. Studies are needed to determine the best way to evaluate the impact of NACT in each individual patient with advanced ovarian cancer. Indeed, the biggest utility of NACT may be in research, where this approach provides the opportunity for the investigation of predictive markers, mechanisms of resistance, and a forum to test novel therapies.


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