Uggests increased sensitivity to DNA damaging chemotherapeutic drugs [30]. Thus, the extent of copy number variation may be an indicator of malignancy on one hand and sensitivity to therapy on the other. However, to measure directly the DNA repair capacity of cell lines or clinical specimens is difficult to perform, since the current genetic assays still lack high specificity [31]. In this study, we applied a numeric measure of genomic instability, which we termed the Total Aberration Index (TAI), to assess the level of genomic aberrations in SOC. Based on highthroughput DNA copy number data, we investigated the relationship between survival and the degree of genomic instability within two independent datasets of predominantly high-grade SOC patients.Materials and Methods Ethics statementThe study including patients of the Norwegian cohort was approved by the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REC) board (Reference No: S-01127). Exception from PLV-2 Written informed consent was given from the REC authorities based on patients being deceased and all materials used were remaining material after diagnosis. The study including patients of the Australian cohort was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committees at the Peter MacCallum purchase 4EGI-1 Cancer Centre, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Melbourne and all participating hospitals. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study.Table 1. Clinicopathological characteristics of the Norwegian and Australian SOC patients.Norwegian cohort All Patients Age Total cases Mean (SD) Range Age groups ,45 45?5 .55 Stage II III (B+C) IV Grade 1 2 3 Chemotherapy Sensitive Resistant Progression Progression No progression PFS (months) Median (95 CI) OS (months) Median (95 CI) 74 (100 ) 60 (11) 38?1 7 (10 ) 15 (20 ) 52 (70 ) 3 (4 ) 50 (68 ) 21 (28 ) 3 (4 ) 21 (28 ) 50 (68 ) 51 (69 ) 23 (31 ) 69 (93 ) 5 (7 ) 16 14?1 32 25?7 TAI,med. 37 (50 ) 60 (11) 39?9 4 (11 ) 6 (16 ) 27 (73 ) 1 (3 ) 26 (70 ) 10 (27 ) 2 (5 ) 7(19 ) 28(76 ) 21 (57 ) 16 (43 ) 36 (97 ) 1 (3 ) 15 10?8 25 17?Australian cohort TAI.med. 37 (50 ) 60 (10) 38?1 3 (8 1655472 ) 9 (24 ) 25 (68 ) 2 (5 ) 24 (65 ) 11 (30 ) 1 (3 ) 14 (38 ) 22 (60 ) 30 (81 ) 7 (19 ) 33 (89 ) 4 (11 ) 18 15?6 50 34?7 0.358 0.043 0.186 0.958 0.p*All 70 (100 ) 57 (11) 23?0 6 (9 ) 25 (36 ) 39 (56 ) 0 (0 ) 62 (89 ) 8 (11 ) 4 (6 ) 24 (34 ) 40 (57 ) 39 (56 ) 31 (44 ) 63 (90 ) 7 (10 ) 15 11?0 40 28?TAI,med.1 35 (50 ) 55 (12) 23?8 5 (14 ) 12 (34 ) 18 (51 ) 0 (0 ) 30 (86 ) 5 (14 ) 2 (6 ) 10 (29 ) 22 (63 ) 17 (49 ) 18 (51 ) 3 (9 ) 32 (91 ) 12 10?9 25 19?TAI.med.1 35 (50 ) 58 (9) 44?0 1 (3 ) 13 (37 ) 21 (60 ) 0 (0 ) 32 (91 ) 3 (9 ) 2 (6 ) 14 (40 ) 18 (51 ) 22 (63 ) 13 (37 ) 4 (11 ) 31 (87 ) 19 13?3 47 35?p*0.0.0.0.1 Genomic instability was quantified as below (TAI,med.) or above (TAI.med.) median TAI. The median was 0.135 for the Norwegian cohort and 0.242 for the Australian cohort. *Calculated p-values for age, stage, and grade from Mann-Whitney tests and for chemotherapy and progression from Fisher’s exact tests. Abbreviations: SOC, serous ovarian cancers; TAI, Total Aberration Index; PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival; CI, confidence interval. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054356.tGenomic Instability in Ovarian CancerFigure 1. Examples of genomic profiles with low (left) and high (right) median Total Aberration Index (TAI). (a.) Examples from the Norwegian and (b.) from the Australian cohort. The log2-transformed copy.Uggests increased sensitivity to DNA damaging chemotherapeutic drugs [30]. Thus, the extent of copy number variation may be an indicator of malignancy on one hand and sensitivity to therapy on the other. However, to measure directly the DNA repair capacity of cell lines or clinical specimens is difficult to perform, since the current genetic assays still lack high specificity [31]. In this study, we applied a numeric measure of genomic instability, which we termed the Total Aberration Index (TAI), to assess the level of genomic aberrations in SOC. Based on highthroughput DNA copy number data, we investigated the relationship between survival and the degree of genomic instability within two independent datasets of predominantly high-grade SOC patients.Materials and Methods Ethics statementThe study including patients of the Norwegian cohort was approved by the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REC) board (Reference No: S-01127). Exception from written informed consent was given from the REC authorities based on patients being deceased and all materials used were remaining material after diagnosis. The study including patients of the Australian cohort was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committees at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Melbourne and all participating hospitals. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study.Table 1. Clinicopathological characteristics of the Norwegian and Australian SOC patients.Norwegian cohort All Patients Age Total cases Mean (SD) Range Age groups ,45 45?5 .55 Stage II III (B+C) IV Grade 1 2 3 Chemotherapy Sensitive Resistant Progression Progression No progression PFS (months) Median (95 CI) OS (months) Median (95 CI) 74 (100 ) 60 (11) 38?1 7 (10 ) 15 (20 ) 52 (70 ) 3 (4 ) 50 (68 ) 21 (28 ) 3 (4 ) 21 (28 ) 50 (68 ) 51 (69 ) 23 (31 ) 69 (93 ) 5 (7 ) 16 14?1 32 25?7 TAI,med. 37 (50 ) 60 (11) 39?9 4 (11 ) 6 (16 ) 27 (73 ) 1 (3 ) 26 (70 ) 10 (27 ) 2 (5 ) 7(19 ) 28(76 ) 21 (57 ) 16 (43 ) 36 (97 ) 1 (3 ) 15 10?8 25 17?Australian cohort TAI.med. 37 (50 ) 60 (10) 38?1 3 (8 1655472 ) 9 (24 ) 25 (68 ) 2 (5 ) 24 (65 ) 11 (30 ) 1 (3 ) 14 (38 ) 22 (60 ) 30 (81 ) 7 (19 ) 33 (89 ) 4 (11 ) 18 15?6 50 34?7 0.358 0.043 0.186 0.958 0.p*All 70 (100 ) 57 (11) 23?0 6 (9 ) 25 (36 ) 39 (56 ) 0 (0 ) 62 (89 ) 8 (11 ) 4 (6 ) 24 (34 ) 40 (57 ) 39 (56 ) 31 (44 ) 63 (90 ) 7 (10 ) 15 11?0 40 28?TAI,med.1 35 (50 ) 55 (12) 23?8 5 (14 ) 12 (34 ) 18 (51 ) 0 (0 ) 30 (86 ) 5 (14 ) 2 (6 ) 10 (29 ) 22 (63 ) 17 (49 ) 18 (51 ) 3 (9 ) 32 (91 ) 12 10?9 25 19?TAI.med.1 35 (50 ) 58 (9) 44?0 1 (3 ) 13 (37 ) 21 (60 ) 0 (0 ) 32 (91 ) 3 (9 ) 2 (6 ) 14 (40 ) 18 (51 ) 22 (63 ) 13 (37 ) 4 (11 ) 31 (87 ) 19 13?3 47 35?p*0.0.0.0.1 Genomic instability was quantified as below (TAI,med.) or above (TAI.med.) median TAI. The median was 0.135 for the Norwegian cohort and 0.242 for the Australian cohort. *Calculated p-values for age, stage, and grade from Mann-Whitney tests and for chemotherapy and progression from Fisher’s exact tests. Abbreviations: SOC, serous ovarian cancers; TAI, Total Aberration Index; PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival; CI, confidence interval. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054356.tGenomic Instability in Ovarian CancerFigure 1. Examples of genomic profiles with low (left) and high (right) median Total Aberration Index (TAI). (a.) Examples from the Norwegian and (b.) from the Australian cohort. The log2-transformed copy.
