Treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer with HE4 -targeted antisense phosphorothioligos (PTOs)

Objectives: The protein HE4 is overexpressed in epithelial ovarian cancer and is clinically correlated with platinum resistance and poor prognosis. In animal models, HE4 promotes human xenograft tumor growth and platinum resistance. Specifically designed phosphorothioligos (PTOs) can be used to target gene products (mRNA) that are overexpressed in cancer cells and used as targeted therapeutics. We examined the use of PTOs targeting HE4 to determine their cytotoxic and antiangiogenic properties. We also examined the synergistic properties of PTOs with cisplatin for treatment of ovarian cancer.