Toward Personalized Ovarian Cancer Therapy through the Cancer Genome Atlas

摘要

There is a growing recognition that the molecular biology of ovarian cancers is complex and that the disease is correspondingly heterogeneous. There is a need for platforms that can translate molecular findings into useful diagnostic tests for patient stratification, therapeutic decision making, and clinical trial design. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pilot project is comprehensively cataloguing the genomic aberrations of advanced serous ovarian carcinoma. The project objective is to identify proteins and corresponding signaling pathways that (1) correlate with the genomic alterations in ovarian carcinoma as determined by TCGA and (2) can be used as biomarkers for clinical outcome and/or chemotherapy response. We have optimized 44 IHC assays for ovarian cancer tissues. We have collected more than 150 TCGA qualified tumors and created Tissue MicroArrays (TMAs). We have incorporated modified and updated TCGA findings into our study design. Antibodies to drug targets or markers of drug activity have been selected and additional pathway components and markers have been added based on findings from TCGA. The panel will focuses on the most relevant and novel signaling pathways for serous ovarian carcinoma.