Clinical trial NCT00711932: The Effect of TRA-8 on Ovarian Cancer Tissue
Official title: Death Receptor-Mediated Apoptosis and Therapy Strategies in Ovarian Cancer
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Ovarian Cancer
Keywords: Ovarian Cancer
TRA-8
Monoclonal Antibody
Tissue Slice Technology
Lead sponsor: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2008-07-09
Enrollment: 478
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 19
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients with histologically confirmed epithelial carcinoma of the ovary or of extra-ovarian origin, any histologic subtype or stage 19 years of age or older.

Brief summary: The goal of this study is to determine the apoptosis-inducing efficacy of TRA-8 in patient ovarian cancer tissues using a tissue slice technology. In addition, we want to evaluate the expression of apoptosis regulatory proteins using multiplex proteomic technology and its correlation with TRA-8-induced cytotoxicity in patient ovarian cancer tissues.

Detailed description: Ovarian cancer remains highly lethal, with an estimated 25,580 new cases and 16,090 death per year in the US. The most common ovarian cancers arise from the surface epithelium of the ovary. Approximately 75% of patients with advanced-stage cancer are surgically incurable. While chemotherapy is a critical component of treatment, the pre-existing and induced chemoresistance of ovarian cancer cells is a major obstacle in treatment of patients with advanced disease. Novel strategies to enhance the established therapeutic Defective apoptosis has been proposed as one of the major mechanisms that lead to malignant transformation and resistance to therapeutics. Defective apoptosis may result from increased growth stimulation (oncogenes), decreased growth inhibition (tumor suppressor genes) or imbalanced apoptosis regulation. Alterations of the Bcl-2 family proteins have been reported to be associated with chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer cells.(1) Increased anti-apoptosis protein, Bcl-XL, may play a role in preventing apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells in response to chemotherapy. Conversely, high levels of pro-apoptosis protein, Bax, are associated with a favorable response to therapy. The role of these and other apoptotic regulatory proteins in sensitivity/resistance mechanisms to chemotherapy in patient's ovarian cancer cells are just beginning to be elucidated.

Precision cut tumor slices will be prepared from fresh primary ovarian tumor specimens using the Krumdieck tissue slicer, followed by ex vivo TRA-8 cytotoxicity assays on the tumor slices. Tumor-derived tissue slices may be used immediately in short term assays with no need to isolate or expand tumor cells, thus avoiding potential problems in maintaining cell viability or selecting variant cells during tumor dispersion or longer periods of in vitro cell culture. Demonstration of TRA-8-induced apoptosis using primary ovarian tumors in ex vivo tumor slice cytotoxicity assays can strengthen the rationale for this therapy in this tumor type and may be used to select patients who would most likely benefit from TRA-8 therapy. The sensitivity of ovarian patient tumors to TRA-8, paclitaxel, and carboplatin will be evaluated in tumor slice cytotoxicity assays as single agents and in combination. Slices from different treatment conditions will be paraffin-embedded or frozen for immunohistochemical evaluation.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients must have suspected ovarian cancer and must be a candidate for surgery.
* Patients must have provided a signed consent form.
* Patients must have extra tumor at the time of surgery that is appropriate for tumor slicing.
* Patients must be at least 19 years of age.
* Patients must have histologically confirmed epithelial carcinoma of the ovary or of extra-ovarian origin, any histologic subtype or stage.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who have received any prior therapy for ovarian cancer.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Presence of TRA-8 apoptosis
timeFrame: At the time of surgery
measure: Presence of apoptosis regulatory proteins
timeFrame: At the time of surgery
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Birmingham
country: United States
facility: University of Alabama
state: Alabama
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham
name: Tong Zhou, M.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: