Evidence for clinical efficacy of mitomycin C in heavily pretreated ovarian cancer patients carrying germ-line BRCA1 mutation

Ovarian carcinomas (OC) arising in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers demonstrate pronounced sensitivity to platinum-based therapy due to deficiency of double-strand break DNA repair. However, the choice of subsequent treatment lines for this category of women remains complicated. We considered mitomycin C for heavily pretreated hereditary OC patients, based on multiple evidence for BRCA-specific activity of this drug. Twelve patients carrying BRCA1 germ-line mutation were included in the study. All women had a history of surgical intervention followed by adjuvant platinum-based therapy; three patients also received platinating agents prior the operation. The number of preceding treatment lines for metastatic disease was one for three patients, two for four patients, three for two patients, four for two patients and six for one woman. Administration of mitomycin C (10 mg/m2, every 4 weeks) resulted in one complete response (duration 36 weeks), two partial responses (duration 36 and 48 weeks) and six instances of disease stabilization (duration 12, 16, 20, 24, 24 and 24 weeks). In addition, three patients with the stable disease showed a decline of CA-125 level. We conclude that mitomycin C may deserve further evaluation in clinical trials involving BRCA1/2-related cancers.