Abstract IA05: Molecular analysis of exceptional response in high-grade serous ovarian cancer
Authors: Garsed Dale , Pandey Ahwan , Fereday Sian , Alsop Kathryn , Wouters Maartje , Saner Flurina , Kennedy Catherine , Pearce Celeste , Pike Malcolm , Ramus Susan , Kobel Martin , deFazio Anna , Goode Ellen , Nelson Brad , Bowtell David 
Published: September 2020

A majority of patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) develop progressive disease following primary treatment, with a five-year survival rate of approximately 40%, and less than 10% survive more than 10 years. Profound genomic instability, treatment with DNA-damaging drugs, and a large tumor burden promote the development of acquired resistance in a large proportion of patients, including multiple convergent resistant events within individuals. Despite the propensity of HGSC to develop drug resistance, a small proportion of patients with advanced disease at diagnosis become long-term survivors. These exceptional patients include those who had suboptimal surgical clearance, and therefore were not cured surgically, and others who have had no evidence of disease recurrence following initial surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. Our study, which is part of the international collaborative Multidisciplinary Ovarian Cancer Outcomes Group (MOCOG), seeks to identify molecular, immunologic, and epidemiologic factors that influence long-term survival in HGSC. This presentation describes our genomic and immunologic analysis of exceptional survival of this deadly disease. Patient characteristics and clinical histories were evaluated to identify patients diagnosed with advanced stage (Stage IIIC/IV) and histopathologically confirmed HGSC with greater than 10-year overall survival. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on primary tumors (median 78x coverage) and germline samples (median 39x coverage) of 55 long-term survivors. Primary tumor samples were also characterized by RNA sequencing, DNA methylation profiling, and immunohistochemistry. Thirty-eight (69%) of long-term surviving patients had residual disease following surgery, suggestive of highly chemosensitive disease. Most patients (41, 75%) were alive at last follow-up and 26 (47%) were progression free. Somatic mutation burden was higher in primary tumors of long-term survivors relative to controls. Genome-wide mutational signatures were predominantly Signature 3 (associated with homologous recombination deficiency), Signature 1 (age related), and Signatures 5, 8, and 16 (unknown etiology). Inactivation of the tumor suppressor RB1 by structural rearrangements or homozygous deletion was frequent in long-term survivors, with 33% of tumors showing associated loss of RB1 protein expression by immunohistochemistry compared to 13% of unselected HGSC controls (n=207; P = 0.001). In an independent HGSC cohort (n=847), RB1 protein loss was associated with prolonged survival (HR: 0.75, P &lt; 0.001) compared to patients with RB1-positive tumors. Furthermore, co-occurrence of germline mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 and RB1 loss was associated with a significantly longer overall survival compared to patients with retained RB1 protein expression and no germline BRCA mutation (HR: 0.44, P &lt; 0.001). Multiplexed immunohistochemical analysis with immune cell panels demonstrated distinct associations with long-term survivors. This study delineates the full landscape of genomic alterations in HGSC of long-term survivors. Our findings indicate that specific mutations are associated with enhanced host immune responses and long-term survival.

Citation Format: Dale Garsed, Ahwan Pandey, Sian Fereday, Kathryn Alsop, Maartje Wouters, Flurina Saner, Catherine Kennedy, Celeste Pearce, Malcolm Pike, Susan Ramus, Martin Kobel, Anna deFazio, Ellen Goode, Brad Nelson, David Bowtell. Molecular analysis of exceptional response in 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 IA05.