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Ovarian cancer is the first in mortalities among gynecologic cancers in the United States, often due to late diagnosis and/or acquired platinum-resistant recurrences. This study investigates whether BRCA1-IRIS is a novel treatment target for ovarian cancers and in platinum-resistant recurrences. Here we show that more than half of the ovarian cancer samples analyzed showed BRCA1-IRIS and survivin overexpression and lacked nuclear FOXO3a expression. Normal ovarian epithelial cells overexpressing BRCA1-IRIS formed metastasis in mice when injected in the peritoneal cavity, whereas aggressive ovarian cancer cell lines failed to form tumors or metastases in mice when BRCA1-IRIS was silenced in them. We show that BRCA1-IRIS activates two autocrine signaling loops, brain-derived neurotrophic factor/tyrosine kinase B receptor (BDNF/TrkB) and neuregulin 1 (NRG1)/ErbB2. These loops are involved in anoikis resistance and metastasis promotion. These loops operate in several ovarian cancer cell lines, and BRCA1-IRIS silencing or inactivation using a novel inhibitory peptide renders both non-functional and promoted cell death. In a mouse xenograft model, BRCA1-IRIS inactivation using this novel inhibitory peptide resulted in significant reduction in ovarian tumor growth. More importantly, this treatment sensitized ovarian tumors to low cisplatin concentrations. Taken together, these data strongly suggest that BRCA1-IRIS and/or BDNF/TrkB and NRG1/ErbB2 could serve as rational therapeutic targets for advanced ovarian cancers.

Objective This two-stage Phase II study assessed the activity of single agent alisertib in patients with recurrent/persistent uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS). Methods Eligibility criteria included histologically-confirmed, recurrent or persistent uLMS, age ≥18, 1-2 prior cytotoxic regimens, and RECIST version 1.1 measurable disease. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of alisertib through the frequency of patients with objective tumor responses and the frequency who survived event-free for at least 6 months (EFS6). The endpoints for EFS were RECIST progression, death, or beginning a subsequent therapy. The null hypothesis jointly specified the probability of a patient experiencing a tumor response to less than or equal to 5% and the probability of a patient surviving event-free for at least 6 months to less than or equal to 20%. A two-stage design was used with a target accrual of 23 patients for stage 1 and 47 pts cumulative for stage 2. Confidence intervals do not correct for multiplicity. Results Twenty-three patients were enrolled with two patients excluded on central histology review, yielding 21 eligible patients. Median age was 61 years. Prior treatment was either 1 cytotoxic regimen (71.4%) or 2 (28.6%). The most common treatment related AEs (grade 3 or worse) were anemia (4), leukopenia (5), neutropenia (7), thrombocytopenia (1), mucositis (4), diarrhea (1), and palmer-planter syndrome (2). There were no objective responses (0%; 90% CI: 0-10.4%). Best response was stable disease (38.1%); 12 patients had progressive disease (57.1%). EFS6 was 0% (90% CI: 0-10.4%). Median PFS and OS were 1.7 (90% CI: 1.4-3.2) and 14.5 months (90% CI: 7.6- NA), respectively. Conclusion Alisertib did not demonstrate clinically meaningful single agent activity in previously treated uLMS.