Our Website Has Moved!

Find us now at:

 turningthetideovariancancerretreats.org

Please note that this page will continue to exist as an archive 

for research articles posted before the new site launched. 

Here It Is!! 2022 TTT Slideshow from our Retreat

 2022 TTT Slideshow

Click on this link to play the slideshow

2022 TTT Retreat Applications/Forms

This year our annual Turning the Tide Ovarian Cancer Retreat will be held at beautiful, Essex Woods Meeting and Retreat Center, in Essex, MA.

The links are available at the bottom of the screen for you to download the application instructions, the application itself, the health history form and the consent form. You can print it out and send it back to me via email or mail. If you have trouble opening the link or you are without the ability to print, please contact me at mastrangelom@comcast.net so that I can send you a hard copy.

The acceptance process is not first-come, first-serve. Please make sure that if you are mailing the hard copy of your forms, it must be received by Tuesday, May 24th so that we can contact you by Friday, May 27th by email or 'phone to confirm your spot. We will have a wait list available.

Do not send any payment at this time - please wait until your spot has been confirmed.

·      Again, only after you have been notified of your spot, please send your check for $250 (or any amount – we want all women to attend regardless of ability to pay) payable to: Turning the Tide Ovarian Cancer Retreats Inc.

 NOTE: If you need to request a scholarship (assistance for payment) please check the box on the application form.

We so look forward to your application! 

Here are the links to each document:

Application Instruction

Application

Health Form

Consent Form

Ovations for the Cure of Ovarian Cancer Fundraising Event

 Let's Support Our Sister Organization:

JOIN US AT PUTTS & MORE FOR FUN AND FUNDRAISING!

 

MAY 21, 2022 1OAM TO 2PM

750 Concord Street, Holliston, MA

 

18 HOLE MINI GOLF

  $15 PER PERSON (AGES 9 and up)

$10 PER PERSON (AGES 3 -8)

 

NO PRESALES - PAY AT THE GOLF COURSE!

 

PLAY GOLF, VISIT WITH FRIENDS, ENJOY A SNACK FROM THE SNACK BAR AND HELP SUPPORT OUR PATIENT PROGRAMS.

 

Picnic table area also available

 

For more info on Putts and More, please visit

https://puttsandmore.com/

For more information contact:  susan@ovationsforthecure.org 

 

Six Day Treatment Eradicates Advanced OC and Colorectal Cancer in 100% of Animals

(This article was written by Jade Boyd from Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.)

Bioengineers have shown they can eradicate advanced-stage ovarian and colorectal cancer in mice in as little as six days with a treatment that could be ready for human clinical trials later this year.

The treatment and animal test results are described online today in a Science Advances study co-authored by Omid Veiseh, Amanda Nash and colleagues from Rice, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Virginia and others.

Veiseh, an assistant professor of bioengineering whose lab produced the treatment, said human clinical trials could begin as soon as this fall because one of his team’s key design criteria was helping cancer patients as quickly as possible. The team chose only components that had previously proven safe for use in humans, and it has demonstrated the safety of the new treatment in multiple tests.

“We just administer once, but the drug factories keep making the dose every day, where it’s needed until the cancer is eliminated,” Veiseh said. “Once we determined the correct dose — how many factories we needed — we were able to eradicate tumors in 100% of animals with ovarian cancer and in seven of eight animals with colorectal cancer.”

In the newly published study, researchers placed drug-producing beads beside tumors and within the peritoneum, a sac-like lining that supports intestines, ovaries and other abdominal organs. Placement within this cavity concentrated interleukin-2 within tumors and limited exposure elsewhere.

“A major challenge in the field of immunotherapy is to increase tumor inflammation and anti-tumor immunity while avoiding systemic side effects of cytokines and other pro-inflammatory drugs,” said study co-author Dr. Amir Jazaeri, professor of gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine at MD Anderson. “In this study, we demonstrated that the ‘drug factories’ allow regulatable local administration of interleukin-2 and eradication of tumor in several mouse models, which is very exciting. This provides a strong rationale for clinical testing.”

Interleukin-2 is a cytokine, a protein the immune system uses to recognize and fight disease. It is an FDA-approved cancer treatment, but Nash, a graduate student in Veiseh’s group and the study’s lead author, said the drug factories provoke a stronger immune response than existing interleukin-2 treatment regimens because the beads deliver higher concentrations of the protein directly to tumors.

“If you gave the same concentration of the protein through an IV pump, it would be extremely toxic,” Nash said. “With the drug factories, the concentration we see elsewhere in the body, away from the tumor site, is actually lower than what patients have to tolerate with IV treatments. The high concentration is only at the tumor site.”Nash said the same general approach used in the study could be applied to treat cancers of the pancreas, liver, lungs and other organs. The drug factories could be placed next to tumors and within the linings that surround those organs and most others, she said. And if a different cytokine is needed to target a specific form of cancer, the beads can be loaded with engineered cells that make that immunotherapeutic compound.

The bead’s outer shell shields its cytokine-producing cells from immune attacks. The shells are made of materials the immune system recognizes as foreign objects but not as immediate threats, and Veiseh’s lab leveraged that in its design.

“We found foreign body reactions safely and robustly turned off the flow of cytokine from the capsules within 30 days,” he said. “We also showed we could safely administer a second course of treatment should it become necessary in the clinic.”

Avenge Bio , a Massachusetts-based startup co-founded by Veiseh, has licensed the cytokine-factory technology from Rice.

Additional co-authors include Maria Jarvis, Samira Aghlara-Fotovat, Sudip Mukherjee, Andrea Hernandez, Andrew Hecht, Yufei Cui, Shirin Nouraein, Jared Lee, David Zhang and Oleg Igoshin of Rice; Peter Rios, Sofia Ghani, Ira Joshi and Douglas Isa of CellTrans Inc.; Chunyu Xu and Weiyi Peng of the University of Houston; Rahul Sheth of MD Anderson; and José Oberholzer of both CellTrans Inc. and the University of Virginia.

The research was funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (RR160047), Avenge Bio, the Emerson Collective, the Welch Foundation, the Rice University Academy of Fellows, the National Science Foundation (1842494) and the National Institutes of Health (R01DK120459).
Jazaeri receives compensation as a consultant on Avenge Bio’s scientific advisory board and has disclosed the relationship to MD Anderson in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policy. Nash, Jarvis, Aghlara-Fotovat, Mukherjee, Hecht, Igoshin, Zhang and Veiseh declared interests via patents filed by Rice on the cytokine factories. Igoshin, Veiseh and Oberholzer are paid consultants for Avenge Bio. Nash, Zhang, Sheth, Oberholzer, Jazaeri and Veiseh hold equity in Avenge Bio.

OncLive presents: "Latest Perspective in Ovarian Cancer Care"

 

OncLive presents "Latest Perspective in Ovarian Cancer Care". Below are the topics that will be covered. Here is the link to watch this on-demand video.

Agenda Topics

 

The closer we look, the further we’ll go
Highlighting the current state of ovarian cancer and current treatments to understand the challenges faced by those living with ovarian cancer. 

What if the treatments were as unique as the tumor?
Understanding the history of where we’ve been with ovarian cancer, and what’s in store for the future, and your role in it.

To test is to know what to target
Exploring the advances in genomic profiling of ovarian cancer tumors and optimizing treatment outcomes for patients.

Using the journey to define the destination
Applying personalized treatments in practice and the impacts these can have on those living with ovarian cancer.

The State of Ovarian Cancer: Exploring the Landscape of Systemic Therapy from OncLive

 

This video is worth reshowing in case you missed it.

Clearity Foundation: Help in Finding Clinical Trials

 

The Clearity Foundation has put together a search option to help you and your doctor select the best clinical trial for you. A link to that is below. If you haven't spent any time on the Clearity Foundation website, I would urge you to do so. It provides free counseling to women with OC and articles about research and links to treatment decision supports and what to do if you're newly diagnosed. 

In regards to finding clinical trials, there is a seven minute video tutorial that they have published on finding clinical trials You can find a link to this video here.

As per Clearity Foundation, "To find clinical trials, please check out the ovarian cancer-specific Trial Finder that Clearity has developed. The search outputs trials for which the patient is most likely to be eligible based on answers to questions about their specific clinical situation (e.g., prior treatments, tumor histology, platinum status), tumor biology, and preferences."

Racial Disparities Persist in Ovarian Cancer

This article appeared on the Clearity Foundation web site and was written by Jon Kelvey

Black patients with ovarian cancer were less likely than their White counterparts to receive adjuvant chemotherapy after primary surgery, according to a study published in Gynecologic Oncology.

The study also showed that patients who did not undergo adjuvant chemotherapy had worse survival outcomes.

For this study, researchers analyzed National Cancer Database data on patients with stage II-III ovarian cancer who underwent primary surgery.
Of the 48,245 patients, 42,914 were White, 3058 were Black, and 2273 were another race. The patients’ median age was 61 years. There were 522 patients (1.08%) who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy due to clinician-identified risk factors.

In a multivariate analysis, the following factors were associated with not receiving a recommendation for adjuvant chemotherapy — Black race, being older (≥70 years), having higher Charlson-Deyo comorbidity scores (>0), having government insurance (vs private insurance), and being treated at a community center (vs academic/research center).

When controlling for all other factors, Black race was significantly associated with not being recommended chemotherapy (adjusted odds ratio, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.61-2.78; P <.0001).
Not being recommended for chemotherapy was associated with worse overall survival (OS). The median OS was 53.8 months for those who received adjuvant chemotherapy and 12.1 months for those who did not (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.74; 95% CI, 2.48-3.03; P <.0001).

OS outcomes were similar for Black and White patients who were not recommended for chemotherapy (aHR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.74-1.39, P =.951).

Among Black patients, the 5-year OS rate was significantly higher for those who received a recommendation for chemotherapy than for those who did not — 40.3% and 25.9%, respectively (P <.0001).

The researchers noted that, of the 62 Black patients who were deemed too high risk to receive chemotherapy, 31 patients had a risk profile similar to the profiles of White patients who did receive chemotherapy.

These results suggest that risk estimation may be performed unequally on the basis of race. However, due to limitations of the data studied, the researchers could not rule out that other factors might help explain the observed disparity. One limitation is that functional status is not included in National Cancer Database records.

“Additional research is warranted to directly investigate the role of bias, including implicit bias, in clinical decision-making in gynecologic oncology,” the researchers concluded.

Reference
Matthews BJ, Qureshi MM, Fiascone SJ, et al. Racial disparities in non-recommendation of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II-III ovarian cancer. Gynecol Oncol. 2022;164(1):27-33. doi:10.1016/j.ygyno.2021.10.090

This article was published by Cancer Therapy Advisor.

 

Cervical Cell May Hold to Predicting Ovarian Cancer Risk

 

The Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) recently reported on this interesting study that was published in the journal Nature.

Cervical cell samples that are routinely collected as part of Pap smears may hold promise for predicting the risk of ovarian and other cancers, according to recent findings published as two separate papers in Nature — one focused on ovarian cancer and the other on breast cancer.

The researchers studied cervical samples collected at 15 different health centers in Europe from approximately 3,000 women — some with ovarian cancer, some with breast cancer, and some without either disease. The cervical cells were analyzed for specific “epigenetic footprints” that are associated with higher risk of ovarian or breast cancer, according to the scientists. 

“Our studies have taken a completely novel approach and evaluate an individual’s risk for more than one cancer by assessing several different epigenetic footprints in a single cervical screening sample,” said lead researcher Dr. Martin Widschwendter of University College London, University of Innsbruck, and the European Translational Oncology Prevention and Screening Institute.

These “epigenetic footprints” are identified by looking at chemical modifications or marks to the cell’s DNA that occur via a process known as DNA methylation. These marks tell the cell how to read the DNA and act on it. But both environmental factors and lifestyle habits can alter these marks in a way that is damaging to how the cell behaves, which the researchers believe may lead to increased cancer risk in some cases. The tests that they have developed, which are named WID for Women’s risk IDentification, involve the use of an algorithm that has been trained to spot specific patterns in DNA methylation marks that correlate to an increased risk of ovarian or breast cancer.

“Importantly, the tests do not detect actual cancer but rather indicate genetic, lifestyle and environment risk factors associated with them and may be able to predict future risk,” according to a statement from The Eve Appeal, which co-funded the study. 

The findings may pave the way for future screening tools, but more research is needed. The scientists plan to use large population trials to see whether the newly developed tests accurately predict cancer before it occurs. 
“As with any new test, they will need trialing on a large number of the population over the next years before being available widely,” said Dr. Chiara Herzog of University of Innsbruck and the European Translational Oncology Prevention and Screening Institute, who is a part of the research team. “Our next research will also discover whether the tests are best suited for screening all women and people with a cervix, or only in those with a known increased risk of these cancers (e.g., people with a BRCA alteration or family history).” 

Upfront Treatment of Advanced Ovarian Cancer: UW Department of Medicine

 

Virtual Surveillance Visits with Symptom and Serum CA 125

This article by Monica Janke, MD, first appeared on OncLive.

In patients with ovarian cancer and pretreatment elevated CA-125 who achieved remission after frontline therapy, most recurrences are detected by rising CA-125 levels or symptoms.

In patients with ovarian cancer and pretreatment elevated CA-125 who achieved remission after frontline therapy, most recurrences are detected by rising CA-125 levels or symptoms, according to Monica Janke, MD. As such, virtual surveillance visits with review of symptoms and serum CA-125 may offer a reasonable alternative to in-person visits requiring a physical exam.1

Data from a retrospective study examining the utility of symptom review, serum CA-125, and physical exam in the detection of disease recurrence, showed that 42.2% of patients had suspected recurrence based on several modalities, 89.0% had elevated CA-125 at the time of their recurrence, and 93.6% of patients had elevated CA-125 and/or symptoms present at the time of recurrence. Notably, 96.3% of those who had abnormal physical exam findings also had elevated CA-125 or symptoms present at the time of their recurrence.

“The rapid implementation of telemedicine in the COVID-19 pandemic motivated us to examine the utility of ovarian cancer recurrence detection methods, most particularly the physical exam,” Janke said. “[In our analysis,] we wanted to try to answer of the question of what we might be missing if unable to perform physical exam. It seems that in this specific group of patients at our institution, physical exam may not add a substantial amount of value when there are alternative modality tools available, including symptom review and serum CA-125, which can be reviewed virtually with patients. This opens a door for us; it may be possible to see ovarian cancer surveillance going virtual in some way, shape, or form.”

In an interview with OncLive® during the 2022 SGO Winter Meeting, Janke, a third-year resident, Obstetrics and Gynecology, at Rogel Cancer Center, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, discussed the potential role of, or opportunity for, virtual surveillance care for patients with ovarian cancer in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Could Pap Smears One Day Help Detect Breast and Ovarian Cancers?

 

This article was written by Angus Chen, and appeared on the ClearityFoundation.org.

New research suggests that cervical cancer screenings could be used to pick up on a patient’s risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.

Routine screenings have become a powerful tool in catching cervical cancer as early as possible. Now, research suggests the cervical cells collected during these exams could hold the key to efficient screening for other gynecological cancers, too.

A new study suggests that by analyzing cervical cells’ genomes, researchers might be able to find genetic signatures that predict the risk of ovarian, breast, and endometrial cancers and flag patients that should be screened more aggressively. If the test proves useful in larger studies, it could offer a simple way to piggyback off of regular Pap smears already used to screen for cancerous or precancerous lesions in the cervix.

“One sample and then you could utilize this sample for predicting the risk for all four gynecological cancers: breast, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancer,” said Martin Widschwendter, a professor of cancer prevention and screening at Innsbruck University in Austria and a senior author on the study. “You want to make it easy. If it’s not convenient, then women likely won’t utilize it.”

The test looks for something known as methylation patterns in the genomes of cervical cells. Over the course of a lifetime, beginning in utero, a patient’s cells accumulate chemical modifications to their genomes. Unlike genetic mutations, these don’t change a cell’s genetic code but rather are like molecular “caps,” called methylations, that attach to the DNA and can turn certain genes on or off.

There are many factors that affect the pattern of DNA methylation in cervical cells including exposure to certain levels of chemicals or hormones like progesterone that can alter someone’s risk of cancer. In that sense, such changes in cervical cells might be a readout of a patient’s overall history that has an impact on cancer risk.

“Our idea was that these hormone-sensitive cells are recording these lifelong exposures in the epigenome,” said Widschwendter, who set out to find whether a specific signature in the cells could offer any clues about cancer risk.

He and his colleagues examined samples from cervical smears of roughly 2,000 women at 15 different health centers in Europe. Some of the women had ovarian or breast cancer, some were healthy, and some had a high suspicion of having ovarian or breast cancer but had not yet been diagnosed. The study didn’t disclose the full demographic breakdown of the cohort, but said an analysis suggested ethnicity — designated as white and non-white — did not seem to have an impact on the overall risk scores.

The team analyzed half of the samples and then used that data to train an algorithm to discover methylation signatures in the cervical cells that correlate with gynecological cancer risk.

Then, the researchers asked the algorithm to predict which patients in the other half of the database were at a high risk of gynecological cancer. When they stratified women into different risk groups, Widschwendter said that 70 to 75% of all ovarian and breast cancers could be found in the highest risk group. The team published their results in two papers in Nature Communications on Tuesday.

That suggests the analysis is able to accurately group patients by risk, said Shelley Tworoger, a cancer prevention researcher at the Moffitt Cancer Center. That could make a difference in developing better screening strategies to monitor women who are at the greatest risk. But, she added, it may be some time before the test yields much clinical utility on a large scale.

“Conceptually, I think this is a very interesting approach. Looking at methylation is a way we might be able to have an integrated view of the exposures a woman may have had in her lifetime that might affect her cancer risk,” she said. “It’s difficult to directly access [the ovaries or uterus] to identify cancer or precancerous lesions, so this might be a good way to identify people at high risk. Most women go in and get Pap smears so we already have this type of sample from women on a very regular basis.”

There are technologies to screen women for ovarian or endometrial cancer, including a blood test called CA 125 and ultrasound imaging. The problem with these methods, thus far, is that they haven’t been able to show that they can catch cancers at earlier stages when treatment has the best chance at success, Tworoger said. “But if we had women who we knew were at higher risk, maybe those screening modalities would work better and lead to better outcomes in them.”

But there’s still more work to be done before such a tool could be rolled out on a population-wide scale.  For one, Widschwendter used tens of thousands of genetic markers to generate usable methylation signatures that might indicate different cancer risks. “If they measured just 5 or 10 markers, it might be more straightforward,” Tworoger said. “It’s a lot more expensive to measure at this genome-wide scale than just a few markers. So, from a cost perspective, it might be prohibitive.”And algorithms trained and tested on one patient population – in this case, women treated at health centers in Europe – often do not perform as well on other patient populations. A tool that could be reliably used on a population level would need to include a far broader range of data.

Still, Tworoger said, the study helps open a new avenue of research looking more deeply into why methylations are related to cancer risk, and which might play the most significant role in predisposing someone to cancer.

“There’s the potential to learn more about the biology, and the more we understand, the better we can address the cancer either from a prevention or treatment side,” Tworoger said.

This article was published by Stat News.

Infecting Cancer: How Viruses Are Turning the Tide Against Tumors

 

If You're Taking Doxorubicin - Read This

Doxorubicin, sold under the brand name of Adriamycin and Doxin, has been dubbed the "red devil" or "red death" by people who suffer from one of the common side effects of this medication: peeling skin on the hands and feet - a very painful condition. Doxorubicin is used to treat certain types of cancer including ovarian.

To deal with this, chemical and biomedical engineers at Penn State have developed nanoparticles that closely resemble hairy cellulose nanocrystals found in plants. These "hairs" are designed to essentially mop-up the excess drug limiting the exposure to healthy non-targeted tissue. This research is due to be published in the March issue of Materials Today Chemistry.

Amir Sheiki, one of the lead designers at Penn State had this to say about it:

"To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no nanoparticle-based super-capacity drug capture system," Sheikhi said, noting that the development of such a system could have significant impact on cancer treatment plans. "For some organs, like the liver, chemotherapy can be locally administered through catheters. If we could place a device based on the nanocrystals to capture the excess drugs exiting the liver's inferior vena cava, a major blood vessel, clinicians could potentially administer higher doses of chemotherapy to kill the cancer more quickly without worry about damaging healthy cells. Once the treatment is finished, the device could be removed."

The benefit is that higher doses of the medication can be given to patients to kill the cancer more quickly and effectively without worrying about damaging healthy tissues. Researchers found that for every gram of these hairy nanocrystals, 6,000 mg of Doxorubicin could be removed from human serum. 

To read more about this research follow this link to Phys.org, a web-based science, research and technology news service that covers a wide range of topics.  
 

Patient Advocate Foundation

I'd like to thank Kelsey for letting us all know about this very important organization: Patient Advocate Foundation.

What is one of the most difficult areas to navigate in our health care system is trying to find the money to pay for the exorbitant cost of medications. Essentially, if one meets the criteria, PAF "...provides direct payment for co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles for patients who need financial assistance."

As I write this, the ovarian cancer co-pay relief fund is currently closed BUT - and I can not stress this enough - funds re-open often so it is important to check back frequently. Additionally, one can sign up to receive alerts when the fund re-opens. The funds for this rely on donors, so if you have the means to support this worthwhile organization, I would urge you to do so. Given that many of our dear women can not work while receiving treatment, this truly is a life saver for many.

Currently, the Cancer Genetic and Genomic Testing  and funds for Cervical Cancer are open. To sign up for alerts, please follow this link.
 

Research update in rarer ovarian cancers

Mucinous Carcinoma

This article first appeared in Ocrahope.com

Mucinous Carcinoma

Mucinous carcinoma accounts for 25% of Stage 1 epithelial ovarian cancers, but only 5% of advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancers. It is often confused with gastrointestinal cancers. Overall survival for Stage 1 is similar to high-grade serous cancers (about 85% five-year survival). When diagnosed in advanced stages, mortality is significantly higher than for high-grade serous. Current standard therapy is surgery, followed by paclitaxel/carboplatin chemotherapy.

It’s been established that there are key pathways and potential targets, particularly for patients with mucinous carcinoma who have recurred. For this subset of patients, there are several areas of potential promise.

• Bevacizumab can be an active agent, which means the angiogenesis pathway is a key pathway.
• 22% have MSI-H (high levels of microsatellite instability), which means they may be responsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
• 18% have HER-2/neu amplification. Breast cancer drugs, such as trastuzumab, that target HER-2/neu may also be active in patients who express HER-2/neu amplification.
• 40-50% of patients have a RAS genetic mutation, and MEK inhibitors may be active in tumors that express a RAS mutation.

Current research into mucinous carcinoma is focused on further investigating the use of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), and on potential transition to more common use of gastrointestinal chemotherapy regimens.

HIPEC for ovarian cancer in general has shown to produce mixed results. Most experts consider it to be investigational, rather than standard of care treatment. However, there is interest in applying HIPEC for mucinous ovarian cancer specifically, due to HIPEC’s possible efficacy against gastrointestinal cancers, which microscopically looks quite similar to mucinous carcinoma of the ovary.

• A randomized trial investigated use of a regimen commonly used to treat colorectal cancer–capecitabine/oxaliplatin–versus paclitaxel/carboplatin, with or without addition of bevacizumab, in patients with previously untreated mucinous ovarian cancer. The concept was to determine if by giving the standard gastrointestinal treatment regimen, patients would have a higher response rate and progression-free survival. The trial unfortunately closed early due to slow accrual, so will not have a conclusion.
• In more conclusive news, a retrospective multi-institutional study on patients with mucinous carcinoma showed that patients who received gastrointestinal treatment regimens had significantly better progression-free and overall survival rate than those who received the standard of paclitaxel/carboplatin. Because this was retrospective, and not a randomized clinical trial, more investigation is needed, but researchers believe this shows promise.

 

Current treatment standards for primary ovarian cancer

Malignant Ovarian Germ Cell Tumors

This article appeared in Ocrahope.org

Malignant ovarian germ cell tumors represent less than 5% of all ovarian cancers, and occur primarily in girls and young women in their 20s and 30s. Prior to the 1970s, this type of tumor had a very high mortality rate, but since the introduction of contemporary BEP chemotherapy (bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin; a combination often used to treat testicular cancer), the cure rate is 95%. Because this type often affects only one ovary, fertility-sparing surgery is sometimes feasible.

• A low risk international study has enrolled children and adults with Stage 1A and 1B ovarian germ cell tumors that are confined to the ovaries. Patients in the study undergo observation following primary surgery, and receive chemotherapy only if they develop a recurrence. The concept is to try to avoid chemotherapy altogether in patients with very early stage disease. This trial is ongoing, with results expected in about 5 years.
• The same study, this one for patients ages up to 25 years old with Stage 1C-111 malignant ovarian germ cell ovarian cancer, compares the current standard BEP chemotherapy with a bleomycin, etoposide, carboplatin chemotherapy. Carboplatin is thought to be less toxic than cisplatin, and if results of the trial are positive, it will represent a major advancement in lessening short and long-term toxicity. 

 

Ovarian Cancer and Immunotherapy with Dr. Dmitriy Zamarin

Mirvetuximab Soravtansine Shows Promising Topline Results in FRα-High, Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

This article appeared on OncLive and was written by Courtney Marabella.

The antibody-drug conjugate mirvetuximab soravtansine has shown promising response rates and a favorable toxicity profile in patients with folate receptor alpha (FRα)-high, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer who have received previous treatment with bevacizumab (Avastin), according to topline results from the phase 3 SORAYA trial (NCT04296890) released by ImmunoGen Inc.1

Results showed that the trial met its primary end point, with a confirmed objective response rate (ORR) of 32.4% (95% CI, 23.6%-42.2%) per investigator assessment, and 31.6% (95% CI, 22.4%-41.9%) per blinded independent central review (BICR). Both the investigator- and BICR-assessed ORR included 5 complete responses (CRs). Furthermore, the median duration of response (DOR) was 5.9 months (95% CI, 5.6-7.7).

“Despite advances in the platinum-sensitive setting, most patients with ovarian cancer eventually develop platinum-resistant disease, for which there are limited treatment options, especially for those patients who have previously received bevacizumab,” Robert Coleman, MD, co-principal investigator, and chief scientific officer of US Oncology Research, said in a press release. “Data from SORAYA have the potential to redefine the standard of care for patients with FRα-high platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, as this trial has demonstrated that mirvetuximab delivers clinically meaningful benefit in this setting, with significant and durable responses and a favorable tolerability profile.”