A genetic test has the potential to predict outcomes for patients diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, a new study is reporting.
For this study, the researchers at the University of Washington examined whether or not having genetic mutations could affect ovarian cancer outcomes from different treatment plans. The research team headed by Dr. Barbara Norquist examined 1,195 women who were enrolled in the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) 218, which was a phase III drug trial that tested the effectiveness of adding bevacizumab to other treatment options.
The researchers sequenced each participant's DNA using BROCA-HR, which is a gene panel test, and found that nearly 26 percent of the participants had a mutation in at least one gene that affects DNA repair. DNA repair genes are also known as homologous recombination (HR) genes.
After comparing the outcomes between women with the DNA repair gene mutation and women without the mutation, the researchers found that the mutation appeared to extend the patient's overall survival. Having a mutation, however, did not improve the patient's response to different types of treatments.
The researchers reported that women with the mutation in the BRCA1 gene had an overall survival of 4.5 years, which was one year more than the overall survival rate recorded in women without this mutation. For median progression-free survival, which measures the amount of time that the cancer has not progressed, the average survival was 15.7 months in the BRCA1 mutation group and 12.6 months in the no-mutation group.
Women who had a BRAC2 mutation had even better survival rates. For this group, overall survival was more than six years, and median progression-free survival was 21.6 months. For women with HR mutations that were not related to BRCA, overall survival was 56 months, and median progression-free survival was 16 months.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death from cancer in women. In 2012, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 20,785 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 14,404 had died.
The study's findings, which were presented by Norquist at the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting in San Diego, can help doctors and patients with these mutations plan out treatment plans that factor in extended survival rates.
