KRAS-Mutated, Estrogen Receptor-Positive Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer: Unraveling an Exceptional Response Mystery. Oncologist 2021 Apr;26(4):e530-e536
Date
02/03/2021Pubmed ID
33528846Pubmed Central ID
PMC8018312DOI
10.1002/onco.13702Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85101866994 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 6 CitationsAbstract
We report on a woman with aggressive estrogen receptor-positive, KRAS-mutated ovarian cancer who achieved a remarkable response to combination therapy with the MEK inhibitor (trametinib) and the aromatase inhibitor (letrozole), even though the disease had failed to respond to a combination of a PI3K inhibitor and different MEK inhibitor, as well as to trametinib and the estrogen modulator, tamoxifen, and to letrozole by itself. The mechanism of action for exceptional response was elucidated by in vitro experiments that demonstrated that the fact that tamoxifen can have an agonistic effect in addition to antagonist activity, whereas letrozole results only in estrogen depletion was crucial to the response achieved when letrozole was combined with an MEK inhibitor. Our current observations indicate that subtle variations in mechanisms of action of outwardly similar regimens may have a major impact on outcome and that such translational knowledge is critical for optimizing a precision medicine strategy. KEY POINTS: This report describes the remarkable response of a patient with KRAS-mutated, estrogen receptor-positive low-grade serous ovarian cancer treated with trametinib (MEK inhibitor) and letrozole (aromatase inhibitor), despite prior progression on similar agents including tamoxifen (estrogen modulator). In vitro investigation revealed that tamoxifen can have agonistic in addition to antagonistic effects, which could be the reason for the patient not responding to the combination of trametinib and tamoxifen. The current observations suggest that drugs with different mechanisms of action targeting the same receptor may have markedly different anticancer activity when used in combinations.
Author List
Kato S, McFall T, Takahashi K, Bamel K, Ikeda S, Eskander RN, Plaxe S, Parker B, Stites E, Kurzrock RAuthors
Razelle Kurzrock MD Center Associate Director, Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinThomas Mcfall PhD Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Aromatase InhibitorsFemale
Humans
Nitriles
Ovarian Neoplasms
Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)
Receptors, Estrogen
Tamoxifen
Triazoles
