A comprehensive genomic analysis of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC), reported in Nature, identifies different ways the disease develops resistance to chemotherapy.

The study provides the largest whole-genome dataset for HGSC to date, a disease that accounts for the majority of all ovarian cancer deaths.
         
Although HGSC is initially sensitive to chemotherapy, it frequently develops resistance.

Little is known about how the HGSC genome evolves under the selective pressure of chemotherapy.

To understand more about the drivers of this disease, David Bowtell and colleagues analysed 114 tumour and germline DNA samples from 92 patients with HGSC.

They found that gene breakage in these samples inactivated a variety of tumour suppressors and contributed to chemotherapy resistance.

They also observed other molecular changes associated with resistance, including mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

The authors suggest that a diversity of approaches are needed to improve HGSC treatment and survival, which has remained unchanged in the last 30 years.

Source: Nature