Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2017 Apr 10;35(11):1240-1249.
doi: 10.1200/JCO.2016.71.3677. Epub 2017 Feb 21.

Somatic BRCA1/2 Recovery as a Resistance Mechanism After Exceptional Response to Poly (ADP-ribose) Polymerase Inhibition

Affiliations
Case Reports

Somatic BRCA1/2 Recovery as a Resistance Mechanism After Exceptional Response to Poly (ADP-ribose) Polymerase Inhibition

Stephanie Lheureux et al. J Clin Oncol. .

Abstract

Purpose Durable and long-term responses to the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor olaparib are observed in patients without BRCA1/2 mutations. However, beyond BRCA1/2 mutations, there are no approved biomarkers for olaparib in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). To determine mechanisms of durable response and resistance to olaparib therapy, we performed an analysis of HGSOC tumors from three patients without germline BRCA1/2 mutations who experienced exceptional responses to olaparib. Patients and Methods We performed integrated exome, low-pass genome, and RNA sequence analysis of tumors at diagnosis and upon relapse from patients with platinum-sensitive HGSOC recurrence who were treated > 5 years with olaparib therapy as a single agent. Results We observed somatic disruption of BRCA1/2 in all three patients at diagnosis, followed by subsequent BRCA recovery upon progression by copy number gain and/or upregulation of the remaining functional allele in two patients. The third patient with ongoing response (> 7 years) had a tumor at diagnosis with biallelic somatic deletion and loss-of-function mutation, thereby lacking a functional allele for recovery of BRCA1 activity and indicating a potential cure. Conclusion Olaparib has durable benefit for patients with ovarian cancer beyond germline BRCA1/2 carriers. These data suggest that biallelic loss of BRCA1/2 in cancer cells may be a potential marker of long-term response to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibition and that restoration of homologous repair function may be a mechanism of disease resistance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources