Assessment of possible associations of genetic variants with adverse reactions and survival in patients with ovarian cancer treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel

• Grant number: 23/16093-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy
• Principal Investigator: Patricia Moriel
• Grantee: Giovana Fernanda Santos Fidelis
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is considered the gynecological neoplasm with the highest morbidity, mortality and incidence rates in the country. Due to its asymptomatic behavior in the early stages, the diagnosis of ovarian cancer is usually late; The recommended treatment consists of cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with a platinum analogue and taxane. Although there are favorable clinical results, the effectiveness of the treatment is limited due to the occurrence of several adverse effects, especially peripheral neuropathy and hematotoxicity. Aiming to reduce the incidence of these reactions, the study of genetic variants, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been expanded. The objective is to evaluate possible associations of SNPs with clinical outcomes (adverse reactions/survival) in patients with gynecological tumors treated with paclitaxel and carboplatin. Data related to the patients' clinical history will be collected; To determine SNPs, genomic DNA samples will be isolated from previously collected peripheral blood leukocytes using the real-time PCR technique. The high-resolution melting curve scanning technique (High-Resolution Melting, HRM) will be performed to identify genes not yet related to paclitaxel/carboplatin, but with possible clinical application. Results presented as mean ± standard deviation for continuous variables and as frequencies for categorical variables. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and Chi-square test will be applied. The comparison of allele frequencies will be evaluated using Fisher's exact test and the significance level adopted in all analyzes will be 5% (p<0.05).