Publications by authors named "Felix Hilpert"

Background: Before the era of immunotherapies and antibody-drug conjugates, there were limited chemotherapeutic options for patients with recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer. Combination therapies with cisplatin have shown some superiority over monotherapy. This study examined platinum-free treatment regimens, comparing a combination of topotecan and paclitaxel (TP) with topotecan and cisplatin (TC) in patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, with or without prior platinum-based treatment.

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  • Survival rates for ovarian cancer are influenced by the success of primary surgery in removing tumors.
  • Researchers conducted genome-wide studies on 7,705 ovarian cancer patients to find genetic variants linked to resection status, particularly focusing on high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSOC).
  • The study highlighted significant associations with the rs72845444 variant and the genes MGMT (involved in DNA repair) and PPP2R5C (a tumor suppressor), correlating with disease outcomes and patient survival.*
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  • The study aims to assess the baseline symptom burden experienced by patients with recurrent ovarian cancer and its relationship with progression-free survival and overall survival.
  • Analysis involved 948 patients with either platinum-resistant or potentially platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer receiving advanced chemotherapy, revealing that a significant majority experienced mild to severe symptoms, including pain, fatigue, and anxiety.
  • Results showed that higher symptom burden was linked to reduced progression-free survival and overall survival, highlighting the need for effective symptom management in clinical settings and trials.
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With more novel drugs being approved for the treatment of ovarian carcinoma, the question remains to what extent patients benefit from antiangiogenic treatment with bevacizumab, either in combination with poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors or as single-agent maintenance. As fibroblast growth factor receptors and their ligands (FGFRs/FGFs) are key players in angiogenic signaling and have been linked to resistance to several drugs, we investigated the prognostic or predictive potential of FGFs/FGFRs signaling in the context of bevacizumab treatment within the prospective phase III AGO-OVAR11/ICON-7 study. FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, FGFR4, FGF1, and FGF19 gene expressions were determined in 380 ovarian carcinoma tumor samples collected from German centers in the multicenter phase III AGO-OVAR11 trial/ICON-7 trial.

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Purpose: We present the results of a post hoc tumor tissue analysis from the phase 3 MILO/ENGOT-ov11 study (NCT01849874).

Patients And Methods: Mutation/copy-number analysis was performed on tissue obtained pre-randomization. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate progression-free survival (PFS).

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Solution-based atomic layer deposition (sALD) processes enable the preparation of thin films on nanostructured surfaces while controlling the film thickness down to a monolayer and preserving the homogeneity of the film. In sALD, a similar operation principle as in gas-phase ALD is used, however, with a broader range of accessible materials and without requiring expensive vacuum equipment. In this work, a sALD process was developed to prepare CuSCN on a Si substrate using the precursors CuOAc and LiSCN.

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Objective: The quality assurance program for ovarian cancer (QS-OVAR) evaluates the implementation of treatment standards and impact on survival for International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I ovarian cancer.

Methods: Patients with a first diagnosis of ovarian cancer, diagnosed in the third quarter of 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016, were documented. Surgical quality was categorized as optimal (maximum one surgical item missing) versus suboptimal (≥2 surgical items missing).

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Purpose: To compare standard versus extended duration of bevacizumab treatment in combination with front-line chemotherapy in women with newly diagnosed stage IIB-IV ovarian cancer.

Methods: In this multicenter, open-label, randomized phase III trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01462890), patients with newly diagnosed International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IIB-IV epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or peritoneal cancer underwent primary cytoreductive surgery followed by six cycles of chemotherapy (paclitaxel 175 mg/m plus carboplatin area under the curve 5 once every 3 weeks) and bevacizumab (15 mg/kg once every 3 weeks).

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Purpose: The identification of a robust IHC marker to predict the response to antiangiogenic bevacizumab in ovarian cancer is of high clinical interest. VEGF-A, the molecular target of bevacizumab, is expressed as multiple isoforms with pro- or antiangiogenic properties, of which VEGF-A165b is the most dominant antiangiogenic isoform. The balance of VEGF-A isoforms is closely related to the angiogenic capacity of a tumor and may define its vulnerability to antiangiogenic therapy.

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  • The Measure of Ovarian Symptoms and Treatment (MOST) is a validated tool designed to assess the benefits and side effects of palliative chemotherapy in women with recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC).
  • Researchers analyzed data from a cohort of 762 women to identify how different symptoms co-occurred and how they impacted health-related quality of life (HRQL).
  • Four main symptom clusters were found—abdominal, peripheral neuropathy, nausea and vomiting, and psychological symptoms—indicating that regular screening and management of these symptoms could improve HRQL for affected women.
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  • The study investigates the immune environment in high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) patients to find alternative immune targets after PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors did not yield favorable results.
  • Analysis of tumor samples from 103 HGSOC patients showed that higher levels of intratumoral CD3 T lymphocytes and HLA-E expression were linked to better progression-free and overall survival rates.
  • The findings suggest that targeting the HLA-E/CD94-NKG2A/2C pathway could be a promising strategy, especially for patients with genomic instability indicated by homologous recombination deficiency (HRD).
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Objective: The Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup (GCIG)-Symptom Benefit Study was designed to evaluate the effects of chemotherapy on symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in women having chemotherapy for platinum resistant/refractory recurrent ovarian cancer (PRR-ROC) and potentially platinum sensitive with ≥3 lines of chemotherapy (PPS-ROC ≥3).

Methods: Participants completed the Measure of Ovarian Cancer Symptoms and Treatment (MOST) and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire QLQ-C30 questionnaires at baseline and every 3-4 weeks until progression. Participants were classified symptomatic if they rated ≥4 of 10 in at least one-third of symptoms in the MOST index.

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Background: Treatment for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer has been mainly based on systemic therapy. The role of secondary cytoreductive surgery is unclear.

Methods: We randomly assigned patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who had a first relapse after a platinum-free interval (an interval during which no platinum-based chemotherapy was used) of 6 months or more to undergo secondary cytoreductive surgery and then receive platinum-based chemotherapy or to receive platinum-based chemotherapy alone.

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Background: The impact of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) to the vulva with regard to prognosis and local recurrence in patients with vulvar squamous cell cancer (VSCC) is poorly described.

Patients And Methods: In the AGO-CaRE-1 study 1618 patients with primary VSCC FIGO stage ≥ IB, treated between 1998-2008, were documented. In this retrospective subanalysis, 360 patients were included based on the following criteria: nodal involvement (pN+), known RT treatment and known radiation fields.

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Background: Despite an increasing incidence with simultaneous decreasing age of onset, vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) is still a disease that mainly effects the elderly population. Data on the association of age with prognosis and treatment patterns in VSCC are sparse.

Methods: This is an analysis of the AGO-CaRE-1 cohort.

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  • The 2015 updated German guidelines on pelvic lymphadenectomy (LAE) for vulvar cancer patients recommend surgical lymph node staging for those at higher risk, but defining this risk is still unclear.
  • Two German patient populations have been analyzed to study the impact of lymph node metastasis, one including 1,618 patients and another 514 patients, with a small number undergoing pelvic LAE.
  • Findings indicate that about 80% of patients who had pelvic LAE were also positive for inguinal lymph nodes, and pelvic lymph node staging may not be necessary for many node-positive patients, especially those with low-grade disease.
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Variant-specific loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analyses may be useful to classify germline variants of unknown significance (VUS). The sensitivity and specificity of this approach, however, remains unknown. We performed comparative next-generation sequencing analyses of the genes using blood-derived and tumour-derived DNA of 488 patients with ovarian cancer enrolled in the observational AGO-TR1 trial (NCT02222883).

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Background: There is limited information about the impact of radical surgery including pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy and subsequent platinum-based chemotherapy on sexuality in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of radical surgery including pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy and subsequent platinum-based chemotherapy on sexuality in patients with advanced ovarian cancer as a sub-protocol of the prospectively randomized LION trial.

Methods: The Sexual Activity Questionnaire was applied to assess sexual function according to its sub-scales activity, pleasure, and discomfort.

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Purpose: Low-grade serous ovarian carcinomas (LGSOCs) have historically low chemotherapy responses. Alterations affecting the MAPK pathway, most commonly KRAS/BRAF, are present in 30%-60% of LGSOCs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate binimetinib, a potent MEK1/2 inhibitor with demonstrated activity across multiple cancers, in LGSOC.

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Objective: Obesity is associated with worse survival and an increased risk of relapse in several malignancies. The influence of obesity on vulvar cancer recurrence has not been previously described. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the association between obesity and tumor recurrence in patients with vulvar cancer.

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Purpose: Predicting surgical outcome could improve individualizing treatment strategies for patients with advanced ovarian cancer. It has been suggested earlier that gene expression signatures (GES) might harbor the potential to predict surgical outcome.

Experimental Design: Data derived from high-grade serous tumor tissue of FIGO stage IIIC/IV patients of AGO-OVAR11 trial were used to generate a transcriptome profiling.

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Introduction: The PENELOPE trial evaluated pertuzumab added to chemotherapy for biomarker-selected platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. As previously reported, pertuzumab did not statistically significantly improve progression-free survival (primary end point: HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.

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Background: Primary cytoreductive surgery followed by chemotherapy has been considered standard management for patients with advanced ovarian cancer over decades. An alternative approach of interval debulking surgery following neoadjuvant chemotherapy was subsequently reported by two randomized phase III trials (EORTC-GCG, CHORUS), which were criticized owing to important limitations, especially regarding the rate of complete resection.

Primary Objective: To clarify the optimal timing of surgical therapy in advanced ovarian cancer.

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Objective: In vulvar cancer (VSCC), the course of disease with regard to localization of recurrence and relation of different recurrence sites is poorly described.

Methods: The AGO CaRE-1 study is a retrospective survey of treatment patterns and prognostic factors in vulvar cancer. Patients (pts) with primary VSCC, FIGO stage ≥1B treated in Germany from 1998 to 2008 were included in a centralized database (n = 1618).

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