Clear cell ovarian carcinoma (CCOC) and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) both feature clear cytoplasm due to the accumulation of cytoplasmic glycogen. Genomic studies have demonstrated several mutational similarities between these two diseases including frequent alterations in the chromatin remodeling SWI/SNF and cellular proliferation PI3K/mTOR pathways, as well as a shared hypoxia-like mRNA expression signature. Although many targeted treatment options have been approved for advance stage ccRCC, CCOC patients are still treated with conventional platinum and taxane chemotherapy, to which they are resistant. To determine the extent of similarity between these malignancies, we performed unsupervised clustering of mRNA expression data from these cancers. This review highlights the similarities and differences between these two clear cell carcinomas to facilitate knowledge translation within future research efforts.
The Journal of pathology. 2018 Jan 17 [Epub ahead of print]
Jennifer X Ji, Yi Kan Wang, Dawn R Cochrane, David G Huntsman
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia., Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Agency.