Background/aim: A small subset of patients with ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) harbors telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter (TERTp) mutations. We aimed to analyze the clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of TERTp-mutant OCCC and investigate whether TERTp mutations are associated with the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of patients with OCCC.
Patients and methods: We included 11 OCCC cases in our study. Targeted sequencing was performed with a thorough review of pathology slides and electronic medical records.
Results: Eleven OCCCs harbored two hotspot TERTp mutations: c.1-146C>T (6/11) and c.1-124C>T (5/11). All patients (11/11) who underwent postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy experienced tumor recurrence, and eight of them were classified as platinum-resistant. TERTp-mutant OCCC showed significantly higher frequencies of postoperative recurrence and relapse within six months of chemotherapy. TERTp mutations significantly predicted disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with OCCC.
Conclusion: We demonstrate that TERTp mutations have significant prognostic value for predicting tumor recurrence, platinum resistance, and worse DFS in patients with OCCC.
Keywords: Ovarian clear cell carcinoma; platinum resistance; promoter mutation; recurrence; survival; telomerase reverse transcriptase.
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