Abstract A52: Targeting c-MYC in cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer

Cisplatin has been the most active drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer for the last four decades. Although the majority of patients with ovarian cancer respond to front-line platinum combination chemotherapy, relapse occurs in over 70% of patients, resulting in chemoresistant, fatal disease. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find new therapies focused on targets within cancer cell survival pathways for advanced stage drug resistant ovarian cancer. Evidence indicates that activation of the oncogenic transcription factor c-MYC is involved in such resistance. Furthermore, it has been found that there is a significant association between increasing c-MYC expression and poor survival. Our previous findings indicate that cisplatin-resistant cells express higher c-MYC protein levels when compared to their sensitive counterparts. Importantly, targeting of c-MYC with small interference RNA (siRNA) in the cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cell line, A2780CP20, induced a significant cell growth arrest and inhibition of cell proliferation. Apoptosis and arrest of cell cycle progression were also observed after siRNA-based silencing of c-MYC. The mRNA expression of c-MYC and clinical data for 373 patients with high grade serous ovarian cancer were downloaded from “The Cancer Genome Atlas” (TCGA) data portal. The log-rank test revealed a significant relationship between the expression of c-MYC and the time of progression/recurrence of the tumor. These data suggests c-MYC as a potential therapeutic target for overcoming cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer. Citation Format: Jeyshka Reyes, Cristina Ivan, Anil K. Sood, Pablo E. Vivas-Mejia. Targeting c-MYC in cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: From Concept to Clinic; Sep 18-21, 2013; Miami, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2013;19(19 Suppl):Abstract nr A52.