Quantitative imaging of RAD51 expression as a marker of platinum resistance in ovarian cancer.

Early relapse after platinum chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) portends poor survival. A-priori identification of platinum resistance is therefore crucial to improve on standard first-line carboplatin-paclitaxel treatment. The DNA repair pathway homologous recombination (HR) repairs platinum-induced damage, and the HR recombinase RAD51 is overexpressed in cancer.

Molecular correlates of platinum response in human high-grade serous ovarian cancer patient-derived xenografts.

Introduction: Improvement in the ability to target underlying drivers and vulnerabilities of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HG-SOC) requires the development of molecularly annotated pre-clinical models reflective of clinical responses.

Methods: We generated patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) from consecutive, chemotherapy-naïve, human HG-SOC by transplanting fresh human HG-SOC fragments into subcutaneous and intra-ovarian bursal sites of NOD/SCID IL2Rγ(null) recipient mice, completed molecular annotation and assessed platinum sensitivity.

Results: The success rate of xenografting was 83%.