PURPOSE: To identify molecular subclasses of clear cell ovarian carcinoma (CCOC) and assess their impact on clinical presentation and outcomes. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We profiled 421 primary CCOCs that passed quality control using a targeted…
It is well recognized that some patients with endometrioid gynecological cancers have tumors arising in multiple sites (ovary, endometrium, and endometriosis) at the time of diagnosis. Molecular analysis has helped discern whether these mul…
Clear cell ovarian carcinoma (CCOC) is the second most common subtype of epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Late-stage CCOC is not responsive to gold-standard chemotherapy and results in suboptimal outcomes for patients. In-depth molecular insig…
Abstract Endometriosis is a common, benign condition characterized by extensive heterogeneity in lesion appearance and patient symptoms. We profiled transcriptomes of 207,949 individual cells from endometriomata (n=7), extra-ovarian endomet…
Abstract Endometriosis symptoms are heterogeneous with controversy on whether it constitutes a single disease or multiple distinct types. Our previous work found recurrent somatic cancer-driver alterations in endometriosis; however, these h…
Abstract ARID1A (BAF250a) is a component of the SWI/SNF chromatin modifying complex, plays an important tumor suppressor role, and is considered prognostic in several malignancies. However, in ovarian carcinomas there are contradictory repo…
In this review, we provide a survey and appraisal of research into somatic genomic events in endometriosis. Methodologies have evolved from conventional cytogenetics to next-generation sequencing, with findings ranging from chromosome imbal…
ARID1A (BAF250a) is a component of the SWI/SNF chromatin modifying complex, plays an important tumour suppressor role, and is considered prognostic in several malignancies. However, in ovarian carcinomas there are contradictory reports on i…
Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women and is characterized by the presence of abnormal endometrium at ectopic sites. ARID1A mutations are observed in deeply invasive forms of the disease, often correlating with malignancy. To identify epigene…
BACKGROUND: PTEN loss is a putative driver in histotypes of ovarian cancer (high-grade serous (HGSOC), endometrioid (ENOC), clear cell (CCOC), mucinous (MOC), low-grade serous (LGSOC)). We aimed to characterise PTEN expression as a biomarke…
Endometriosis has yielded controversy on whether it constitutes a single disease or distinct types. Current classification systems poorly correlate with the severity of symptoms and do not provide prognostic tools that can guide management …
The pathogenesis of bowel endometriosis is multifactorial. There is a predilection for disease of the rectum/sigmoid colon because refluxed endometrium is more likely to settle in the pouch of Douglas and its movement is delimited by the si…
PURPOSE: Ovarian cancer is a heterogeneous disease that can be divided into multiple subtypes with variable etiology, pathogenesis, and prognosis. We analyzed DNA methylation profiling data to identify biologic subgroups of ovarian cancer a…
The advent of next generation sequencing has vastly improved the resolution of mutation detection, thereby both increasing the resolution of the analysis of cancer tissues and shining light on the existence of somatic driver mutations in no…
Abstract The presence of somatic driver mutations in endometriosis has previously been believed to represent early events in transformation, however our group and others have described such mutations in roughly one-third of cases of deep in…
Mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) is a unique subtype of ovarian cancer with an uncertain etiology, including whether it genuinely arises at the ovary or is metastatic disease from other organs. In addition, the molecular drivers of invasive…
Abstract Endometrioid ovarian cancer (ENOC) and clear cell ovarian cancer (CCOC) share a common precursor lesion, endometriosis (ectopic growth of uterine lining), hence the designation endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer (EAOC). Women …
We aimed to validate the prognostic association of p16 expression in ovarian high-grade serous carcinomas (HGSC) and to explore it in other ovarian carcinoma histotypes. p16 protein expression was assessed by clinical-grade immunohistochemi…
Endometriosis is a fascinating disease that we strive to better understand. Molecular techniques are shedding new light on many important aspects of this disease: from pathogenesis to the recognition of distinct disease variants like deep i…
The clinical presentation of endometriosis is highly heterogeneous. In a landmark study we have shown somatic cancer-driver mutations in deep infiltrating endometriosis, with at least one case having multiple sites harboring the same driver…
STUDY QUESTION: Does incisional endometriosis (IE) harbor somatic cancer-driver mutations? SUMMARY ANSWER: We found that approximately one-quarter of IE cases harbor somatic-cancer mutations, which commonly affect components of the MAPK/RA…
Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease and precursor of clear cell and endometrioid ovarian carcinomas. We recently demonstrated that one form of endometriosis with little malignant potential, deep infiltrating endometriosis (DE), …
Detecting mutations in single cells from cancer specimens is now a major area of translational research. In a recent article in this journal, Khalique et al validated an immunohistochemistry assay for ARID1A that reliably identifies loss of…
Abstract BACKGROUND: Endometriosis affects ~10% of reproductive–aged women and is characterized by extra–uterine biphasic growth of uterine endometrial epithelium and stroma. Endometriosis is widely considered to be a hormonally–dependent i…
Abstract PURPOSE: Women with endometriosis, a painful condition caused by displaced endometrial tissue, have a 3-fold increased risk of developing endometrioid ovarian cancer (ENOC) and clear cell ovarian cancer (CCOC). How two distinct can…