ARID1A in NSMP Uterine Cancers with Arina Onoprienko and Thomas Bartl

In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez is joined by Drs. Arina Onoprienko and Thomas Bartl to discuss ARID1A in NSMP uterine cancers. Dr. Onoprienko is undergoing residency training in OB/GYN and pursuing a PhD in experimental cancer research at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Her clinical research primarily focuses on modeling therapeutic outcomes in patients with gynecological cancers and assessing cognitive dysfunction in patients undergoing therapy for disease recurrence. Dr. Bartl completed his residency training in OB/GYN at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, and is about to commence an ESGO-Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology. Having completed a PhD program in experimental cancer research, he developed a strong interest in translational cancer research with a focus on precision medicine and definition of new therapeutic targets in rare gynecologic tumors.   Highlights: Approximately one-third of endometrial cancers classified as "no specific molecular profile" (NSMP) harbors _ARID1A_-mutations. As ARID1A has previously been hypothesized to be associated with higher risks of recurrence and more pro-immunogenic tumor phenotypes, _ARID1A_ could qualify as a promising future biomarker for NSMPs. Consistent with previous research, _ARID1A_-mutations are associated with a significantly higher risk of recurrence within the NSMP subgroup, which translates into impaired progression-free survival. _ARID1A_ mutations appear not to be associated with impaired disease-specific survival. Based on a small subgroup analysis of patients experiencing disease recurrence, it could be hypothesized that this effect might be partly attributed to a better response to recurrence therapy.