Genetic characteristics of platinum-sensitive ovarian clear cell carcinoma

Most ovarian clear cell carcinomas are resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy, while a small subset shows a positive response. The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical, pathological and genetic characteristics of platinum-sensitive ovarian clear cell carcinomas.

The study included 53 patients with stage III-IV ovarian clear cell carcinoma who had residual tumours after primary surgery and received platinum-based therapy between 2009 and 2018. A retrospective examination of platinum sensitivity was performed using the criterion of ≥6 months from the last day of first-line platinum therapy until recurrence/progression. Cases determined to be platinum-sensitive were subjected to immunohistochemical staining, genomic analyses using target sequencing (i.e. NCC Oncopanel) and homologous recombination deficiency (myChoice® HRD Plus) assays.

Of the 53 stage III-IV ovarian clear cell carcinoma cases, 11 (21%) were platinum-sensitive. These cases showed better progression-free and overall survival than platinum-resistant cases (hazard ratio = 0.16, P < 0.001). Among the seven sensitive cases whose tumour tissues were available for molecular profiling, five were pure ovarian clear cell carcinoma based on pathological and genetic features, whereas the remaining two cases were re-diagnosed as high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. The pure ovarian clear cell carcinomas lacked BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, consistent with the absence of the homologous recombination deficiency phenotype, whereas two cases (40%) had ATM mutations. By contrast, the two high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma cases had BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations associated with the homologous recombination deficiency phenotype.

The subset of platinum-sensitive ovarian clear cell carcinomas includes a majority with pure ovarian clear cell carcinoma features that lack the homologous recombination deficiency phenotype.