Abstract

Background

10-15% of epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs) have mutations in BRCA 1/2 genes rendering them deficient in homologous recombination (HR). PARP inhibitors have been shown to be synthetically lethal in BRCA deficient cancers and clinical trials are currently evaluating the role of PARP inhibitors in this group of patients. However, up to 30% of EOCs could be deficient in HR due to epigenetic silencing of BRCA 1 or 2 or other genetic or epigenetic defects in other HR genes. Therefore there is a potential of extending the use of PARP inhibitors to these patients if HR status can be identified.

Aim

To develop a functional assay to predict HR status in primary cultures of EOCs and correlate with sensitivity to PARP inhibitors.

Method

Primary cultures were developed from ascitic fluid from patients with EOCs.