Angela Kim

Ovarian cancer is characterized as the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women.1 The standard treatment for the past three decades has been primary debulking surgery, followed by a platinum/taxane-based chemotherapy. However, around 50-70% of patients will experience a relapse due to chemoresistance, causing around 90% of deaths. The purpose of this project was to study chemoresistance through patient-derived xenograft models (PDX) and, therefore, predict the effectiveness of chemotherapy as a first-line treatment. PDX models from patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer were established. After a growth of  ≥0.5 cm, a carboplatin/paclitaxel regimen was intravenously given once per week. Based on the growth of the tumor’s diameter, PDX models that continued to grow in size after a chemotherapy regimen (carboplatin/paclitaxel) were characterized as refractory. Implanted tumors that did not illustrate growth after three months of their last chemotherapy dose were deemed as sensitive. Finally, PDXs that initially responded to the regimen yet started to grow in size within the three months of their last dose were categorized as resistant. Throughout the project, successful PDX models were established, indicated by the growth of the implanted tumors in 35% of the mice and only 30% exhibiting shrinking in diameter. This study suggests that chemoresistance in high-grade serous ovarian cancer can be predicted through patient-derived xenograft models. Finally, these PDX models will be used to identify and compare gene expression patterns to that of the original patients in order to develop effective second-line therapies.