Odunsi, Kunle

AbstractBackgroundKnown risk alleles for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) account for approximately 40% of the heritability for EOC. Copy number variants (CNVs) have not been investigated as EOC risk alleles in a large population cohort.MethodsSingle nucleotide polymorphism array data from 13 071 EOC cases and 17 306 controls of White European ancestry were used to identify CNVs associated with EOC risk using a rare admixture maximum likelihood test for gene burden and a by-probe ratio test. We performed enrichment analysis of CNVs at known EOC risk loci and functional biofeatures in ovarian cancer–related cell types.ResultsWe identified statistically significant risk associations with CNVs at known EOC risk genes; BRCA1 (PEOC = 1.60E-21; OREOC = 8.24), RAD51C (Phigh-grade serous ovarian cancer [HGSOC] = 5.5E-4; odds ratio [OR]HGSOC = 5.74 del), and BRCA2 (PHGSOC = 7.0E-4; ORHGSOC = 3.31 deletion). Four suggestive associations (P < .001) were identified for rare CNVs. Risk-associated CNVs were enriched (P < .05) at known EOC risk loci identified by genome-wide association study. Noncoding CNVs were enriched in active promoters and insulators in EOC-related cell types.ConclusionsCNVs in BRCA1 have been previously reported in smaller studies, but their observed frequency in this large population-based cohort, along with the CNVs observed at BRCA2 and RAD51C gene loci in EOC cases, suggests that these CNVs are potentially pathogenic and may contribute to the spectrum of disease-causing mutations in these genes. CNVs are likely to occur in a wider set of susceptibility regions, with potential implications for clinical genetic testing and disease prevention.

Abstract The capacity and diversity of the oncology leadership workforce has not kept pace with the emerging needs of our increasingly complex cancer centers and the spectrum of challenges our institutions face in reducing the cancer burden in diverse catchment areas. Recognizing the importance of a diverse workforce to reduce cancer inequities, the Association of American Cancer Institutes conducted a survey of its 103 cancer centers to examine diversity in leadership roles from research program leaders to cancer center directors. A total of 82 (80%) centers responded, including 64 National Cancer Institute–designated and 18 emerging centers. Among these 82 respondents, non-Hispanic White individuals comprised 79% of center directors, 82% of deputy directors, 72% of associate directors, and 72% of program leaders. Women are underrepresented in all leadership roles (ranging from 16% for center directors to 45% for associate directors). Although the limited gender, ethnic, and racial diversity of center directors and perhaps deputy directors is less surprising, the demographics of current research program leaders and associate directors exposes a substantial lack of diversity in the traditional cancer center senior leadership pipeline. Sole reliance on the cohort of current center leaders and leadership pipeline is unlikely to produce the diversity in cancer center leadership needed to facilitate the ability of those centers to address the needs of the diverse populations they serve. Informed by these data, this commentary describes some best practices to build a pipeline of emerging leaders who are representative of the diverse populations served by these institutions and who are well positioned to succeed.

Abstract Background: There is suggestive evidence that inflammation is related to ovarian cancer survival. However, more research is needed to identify inflammation-related factors that are associated with ovarian cancer survival and to determine their combined effects. Methods: This analysis used pooled data on 8,147 women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. The prediagnosis inflammation-related exposures of interest included alcohol use; aspirin use; other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use; body mass index; environmental tobacco smoke exposure; history of pelvic inflammatory disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and endometriosis; menopausal hormone therapy use; physical inactivity; smoking status; and talc use. Using Cox proportional hazards models, the relationship between each exposure and survival was assessed in 50% of the data. A weighted inflammation-related risk score (IRRS) was developed, and its association with survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models in the remaining 50% of the data. Results: There was a statistically significant trend of increasing risk of death per quartile of the IRRS [HR = 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03–1.14]. Women in the upper quartile of the IRRS had a 31% higher death rate compared with the lowest quartile (95% CI, 1.11–1.54). Conclusions: A higher prediagnosis IRRS was associated with an increased mortality risk after an ovarian cancer diagnosis. Further investigation is warranted to evaluate whether postdiagnosis exposures are also associated with survival. Impact: Given that pre- and postdiagnosis exposures are often correlated and many are modifiable, our study results can ultimately motivate the development of behavioral recommendations to enhance survival among patients with ovarian cancer.

Abstract Background: Accumulating evidence suggests a relationship between endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. Independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer have identified 16 and 27 risk regions, respectively, four of which overlap between the two cancers. We aimed to identify joint endometrial and ovarian cancer risk loci by performing a meta-analysis of GWAS summary statistics from these two cancers. Methods: Using LDScore regression, we explored the genetic correlation between endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. To identify loci associated with the risk of both cancers, we implemented a pipeline of statistical genetic analyses (i.e., inverse-variance meta-analysis, colocalization, and M-values) and performed analyses stratified by subtype. Candidate target genes were then prioritized using functional genomic data. Results: Genetic correlation analysis revealed significant genetic correlation between the two cancers (rG = 0.43, P = 2.66 × 10−5). We found seven loci associated with risk for both cancers (PBonferroni < 2.4 × 10−9). In addition, four novel subgenome-wide regions at 7p22.2, 7q22.1, 9p12, and 11q13.3 were identified (P < 5 × 10−7). Promoter-associated HiChIP chromatin loops from immortalized endometrium and ovarian cell lines and expression quantitative trait loci data highlighted candidate target genes for further investigation. Conclusions: Using cross-cancer GWAS meta-analysis, we have identified several joint endometrial and ovarian cancer risk loci and candidate target genes for future functional analysis. Impact: Our research highlights the shared genetic relationship between endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. Further studies in larger sample sets are required to confirm our findings.

AbstractProblemPrevious studies identified circulating CD14+HLA‐DRlo/− monocytic cells as an immune suppressive subset in solid malignancies, such as prostate, renal cell carcinoma, and pancreatic cancer. Such monocytic cells have been implicated not only in tumour progression but also as a potential barrier for immunotherapy. This study examined the relationship between the frequency of circulating monocytic cells and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) progression pre‐ and post‐frontline chemotherapy, defined by disease stage, which is a leading prognostic factor for this malignancy.Method of studyIncident cases of 236 women with EOC were recruited and comprehensive flow cytometry was utilized to assess the frequency of peripheral blood CD33+CD11b+HLA‐DR−/lowCD14+CD15− monocytic cells, henceforth termed CD14+HLA‐DRlo/− monocytic cells, prior to and after completion of frontline chemotherapy. Multivariable odds ratios (OR) were used to estimate the association between CD14+HLA‐DRlo/− monocytic cell percentages and disease stage. Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests evaluated changes in these monocytic cell levels pre‐ and post‐chemotherapy in a patient subset (n = 70).ResultsPatients with elevated frequencies of circulating CD14+HLA‐DRlo/− monocytic cells at diagnosis were at 3.33‐fold greater odds of having advanced stage (III/IV) EOC (CI: 1.04‐10.64), with a significant trend in increasing CD14+HLA‐DRlo/−monocytic cell levels (P = .04). There was a 2.02% median decrease of these monocytic cells post‐chemotherapy among a subset of patients with advanced stage disease (P < .0001).ConclusionThese findings support the potential clinical relevance of CD14+HLA‐DRlo/−monocytic cells in EOC for prognosis and may indicate a non‐invasive biomarker to measure disease progression.

Abstract Improving risk prediction and prevention strategies through identifying new susceptibility genes for non-high-grade serous ovarian cancer (non-HGS) would represent an important advance in reducing incidence and mortality. Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has five main histotypes that have distinct pathologies, molecular changes, clinical characteristics, and tissues of origin. They are classified as high-grade serous (HGS), low-grade serous (LGS), clear-cell (CCC), endometrioid (END), and mucinous (MUC). A family history of breast or ovarian cancer is the strongest single risk factor for EOC. Germline mutations in the high-penetrance susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 confer EOC risks of 44% and 17% by age 80, respectively. Only 40% of the excess familial risk is known, suggesting there are many other susceptibility genes yet unidentified. The non-HGS histotypes are poorly studied due to limited sample size within individual studies. Thus, families of cases with non-HGS tumors have few risk prediction options. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) analysis was performed on 251 non-HGS cases (56 LGS, 55 CCC, 117 END, 23 MUC). Cases were screened negative for BRCA1/2 mutations and selected for a family history of ovarian or breast cancer, or young onset (&lt;45 years) of ovarian cancer. WES identified 1,278 genes with rare predicted truncating mutation in at least one case. Predicted truncating mutations in cases were compared to 171,584 controls from the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) and the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD). Gene-set enrichment analysis showed enrichment for genes involved in the DNA repair pathway (p=3.08 × 10−7). Twenty-five candidate genes (including 4 DNA repair genes) were selected for validation by targeted sequencing. Five genes important in HGS (BRIP1, FANCM, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D) as well as two additional candidates (XRCC2 and XRCC3) were also sequenced. Targeted sequencing was performed on 1,779 cases (669 END, 356 CCC, 327 LGS, 427 MUC) and 1,863 controls from studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). Library preparation and target enrichment was performed using the Fluidigm Juno System and Illumina sequencing was performed on a NovaSeq 6000 Sequencing System. A case-control analysis of predicted truncating variants in the 32 genes was performed. Using a minimum alternate allele frequency of 30%, we identified a higher frequency of mutations in non-HGS cases than controls in ERCC6 (p=0.034) and IL31RA (p=0.034). ERCC6 is involved in DNA repair and IL31RA is a cytokine receptor. Sanger sequencing validation of variants to confirm these results is ongoing. Several other genes showed suggestive higher frequencies of mutations in cases than controls. A larger case control analysis will be performed to confirm those findings. Identifying novel susceptibility genes for non-HGS may have clinical impact by reducing disease-associated mortality through improving risk prediction, identifying prevention strategies, and developing new targeted treatments. Citation Format: Marina Pavanello, Ed Dicks, Honglin Song, Amir Ariff, Adelyn Bolithon, Maria P. Intermaggio, Mark Pinese, Kirsten Moysich, Kunle O. Odunsi, Ellen Goode, David D. Bowtell, Peter Fasching, Jennifer A. Doherty, Francesmary Modugno, Susanne K. Kjær, Penelope M. Webb, Anna Wu, Anna deFazio, Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, Paul James, Deepak Subramanian, Ian Campbell, Simon A. Gayther, Paul D.P. Pharoah, Susan J. Ramus. Germline mutations in new susceptibility genes for non-high-grade serous ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 13-16, 2019; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(13_Suppl):Abstract nr B37.

Purpose The known epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) susceptibility genes account for less than 50% of the heritable risk of ovarian cancer suggesting that other susceptibility genes exist. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution to ovarian cancer susceptibility of rare deleterious germline variants in a set of candidate genes. Methods We sequenced the coding region of 54 candidate genes in 6385 invasive EOC cases and 6115 controls of broad European ancestry. Genes with an increased frequency of putative deleterious variants in cases versus controls were further examined in an independent set of 14 135 EOC cases and 28 655 controls from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium and the UK Biobank. For each gene, we estimated the EOC risks and evaluated associations between germline variant status and clinical characteristics. Results The ORs associated for high-grade serous ovarian cancer were 3.01 for PALB2 (95% CI 1.59 to 5.68; p=0.00068), 1.99 for POLK (95% CI 1.15 to 3.43; p=0.014) and 4.07 for SLX4 (95% CI 1.34 to 12.4; p=0.013). Deleterious mutations in FBXO10 were associated with a reduced risk of disease (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.07 to 1.00, p=0.049). However, based on the Bayes false discovery probability, only the association for PALB2 in high-grade serous ovarian cancer is likely to represent a true positive. Conclusions We have found strong evidence that carriers of PALB2 deleterious mutations are at increased risk of high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Whether the magnitude of risk is sufficiently high to warrant the inclusion of PALB2 in cancer gene panels for ovarian cancer risk testing is unclear; much larger sample sizes will be needed to provide sufficiently precise estimates for clinical counselling.

2510 Background: Blocking the interaction between programmed death-1 (PD-1), a co-inhibitory receptor expressed by activated T cells, and its ligand PD-L1 may enhance T-cell function. Here we describe the safety and activity from the first clinical study of BMS-936559 in patients (pts) with advanced solid tumors, further validating the importance of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway as a target for cancer therapy. Methods: BMS-936559 was given Q2 wk IV in a 6-wk cycle at doses of 0.3−10.0 mg/kg during dose escalation and/or cohort expansion; pts could receive up to 16 cycles (48 doses). Results: As of August 1, 2011, 162 pts with melanoma (MEL, n=53), non-small-cell lung (NSCLC, n=50), colorectal (n=18), renal cell (RCC, n=17), ovarian (n=17), and pancreatic (n=7) cancer were treated. Median therapy duration was 11 wks (max 99 wks). Common related adverse events (rAEs; ≥5% pts) included fatigue, diarrhea, infusion reaction, arthralgia, rash, and pruritus. The incidence of grade 3-4 rAEs was 8.6%. AEs of special interest included hypothyroidism, hepatitis, sarcoidosis, endophthalmitis, and myasthenia gravis; there were no drug-related deaths. Clinical activity was observed in MEL, RCC, and NSCLC. Objective responses (ORs; RECIST 1.0) were observed in heavily pretreated pts. ORs were durable; among 16 pts with ORs, 7 had responses lasting ≥1 yr. Two other pts had ongoing ORs with durations of 2.3 and 8.5 mo at data lock. Several pts had prolonged stable disease. Some pts had a persistent reduction in overall tumor burden in the presence of new lesions but were not categorized as responders. In NSCLC, ORs were observed irrespective of histology. Conclusions: BMS-936559 was active and generally well tolerated in pts with NSCLC, RCC, and MEL. In conjunction with data from anti-PD-1/BMS-936558 trials, this study concurrently validates the importance of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway for cancer immunotherapy and supports further clinical development of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 directed therapy. [Table: see text]

AbstractAn association between genetic variants in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) was previously reported in women of African ancestry (AA). We sought to examine associations between genetic variants in VDR and additional genes from vitamin D biosynthesis and pathway targets (EGFR, UGT1A, UGT2A1/2, UGT2B, CYP3A4/5, CYP2R1, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP11A1, and GC). Genotyping was performed using the custom‐designed 533,631 SNP Illumina OncoArray with imputation to the 1,000 Genomes Phase 3 v5 reference set in 755 EOC cases, including 537 high‐grade serous (HGSOC), and 1,235 controls. All subjects are of African ancestry (AA). Logistic regression was performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). We further evaluated statistical significance of selected SNPs using the Bayesian False Discovery Probability (BFDP). A significant association with EOC was identified in the UGT2A1/2 region for the SNP rs10017134 (per allele OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.2‐1.7, P = 1.2 × 10−6, BFDP = 0.02); and an association with HGSOC was identified in the EGFR region for the SNP rs114972508 (per allele OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.6‐3.4, P = 1.6 × 10−5, BFDP = 0.29) and in the UGT2A1/2 region again for rs1017134 (per allele OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.2‐1.7, P = 2.3 × 10−5, BFDP = 0.23). Genetic variants in the EGFR and UGT2A1/2 may increase susceptibility of EOC in AA women. Future studies to validate these findings are warranted. Alterations in EGFR and UGT2A1/2 could perturb enzyme efficacy, proliferation in ovaries, impact and mark susceptibility to EOC.

Thymidylate synthase (TYMS) is a crucial enzyme for DNA synthesis. TYMS expression is regulated by its antisense mRNA, ENOSF1. Disrupted regulation may promote uncontrolled DNA synthesis and tumor growth. We sought to replicate our previously reported association between rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 3′ gene region and increased risk of mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) in an independent sample. Genotypes from 24,351 controls to 15,000 women with invasive OC, including 665 MOC, were available. We estimated per-allele odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using unconditional logistic regression, and meta-analysis when combining these data with our previous report. The association between rs495139 and MOC was not significant in the independent sample (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.97–1.22; p = 0.15; N = 665 cases). Meta-analysis suggested a weak association (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.03–1.24; p = 0.01; N = 1019 cases). No significant association with risk of other OC histologic types was observed (p = 0.05 for tumor heterogeneity). In expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis, the rs495139 allele was positively associated with ENOSF1 mRNA expression in normal tissues of the gastrointestinal system, particularly esophageal mucosa (r = 0.51, p = 1.7 × 10−28), and nonsignificantly in five MOC tumors. The association results, along with inconclusive tumor eQTL findings, suggest that a true effect of rs495139 might be small.