Lack of prognostic significance of ploidy and S-phase measurements in advanced ovarian cancer.

DNA ploidy and S-phase measurements were made in fresh tumour samples obtained from 27 patients with either untreated or previously treated ovarian cancer. In addition, an assessment of in vitro chemosensitivity to post-operative chemotherapy was carried out. Whilst we found that patients with aneuploid tumours tended to survive longer (median survival 441 days versus 268 days for diploid tumours; p = 0.308) and this was associated with clinical response (p = 0.137) this was not statistically significant. Tumours with a high S-phase fraction (i.e. > 9% median) showed a median survival of 362 days compared with 484 days for those with a low S-phase fraction (< 9%; p = 0.79). Whilst a high level of predictability for chemosensitive patients (81%) was achieved, chemosensitivity per se was not related to the respective tumour DNA ploidy or S-phase fraction. In addition, when considering disease stage i.e. FIGO stage III or IV, or extent of residual disease between diploid and aneuploid groups, there were no statistically significant differences. However, there was a tendency for stage III tumours to be aneuploid (p = 0.189). Aneuploid tumours also showed the highest S-phase fractions (p = 0.03), indicative of a high proliferation rate. In conclusion, we have shown that DNA content and ploidy status do not appear to be major prognostic indicators for the management of ovarian cancer.