Estrogen and progesterone receptor expression: Impacts on platinum sensitivity and survival outcomes in high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to explore the impact of patient-specific factors on the effectiveness of platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression levels and platinum sensitivity, and how this influenced treatment outcomes and prognosis. We conducted a survival analysis on patients who underwent surgical treatment for serous ovarian cancer and received platinum-based adjuvant therapies.

Methods: This study was a retrospective observational analysis of 171 patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer. We extracted and analyzed the patients’ clinical data, focusing on platinum sensitivity concerning hormone receptor expression. We also assessed survival outcomes based on receptor expression and platinum resistance.

Results: Our findings revealed that 78.4% (n = 134) of the patients were platinum-sensitive, while 21.6% (n = 37) were platinum-resistant. The expression of hormone receptors showed significant associations with platinum sensitivity, particularly among ER-positive patients (p<0.05). Age, disease stage, preoperative carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) levels, and residual tumor size were identified as notable factors influencing both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). In terms of PFS, 88.5% of patients remained free from disease progression after one year, but this percentage dropped to 21% after five years. The average duration of PFS was 35.3 months. As for OS, 93.5% of patients were still alive after one year, but this percentage decreased to 50.5% after five years. The average survival duration was 64 months. Furthermore, platinum resistance was found to be a significant risk factor for disease progression, with a more than fivefold increase in risk (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Our study identified disease stage progression, ER negativity, and platinum resistance as the primary factors influencing OS. We also found that ER and PR expression played a crucial role in determining the sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with serous ovarian cancer.

Keywords

chemotherapy / hormone receptor / platinum sensitivity / serous ovarian cancer

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