Ovarian Cancer

Weekly dose-dense chemotherapy can be delivered successfully and with lower toxicity than standard 3-weekly regimens, but it does not improve progression-free survival among patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, according to a large new study presented at the ESMO.

The FDA approved olaparib as maintenance therapy for adult patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. The agent is also now approved in tablet form.

Two studies on Lynch syndrome highlight cancer screening and surveillance opportunities.

Olaparib tablet maintenance therapy provided a significant improvement in progression-free survival over placebo in patients with relapsed, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer with a BRCA1/2 mutation.

A new study that used prospective data provides estimates of cancer risk based on BRCA1/2 mutation status and shows the potential role of family history and the location of the mutation in assessing risk.

Niraparib is the most effective but most costly of the currently FDA-approved PARP inhibitors for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer.

In a Significant Percentage of Patients, Neoadjuvant Therapy Yields Equivalent Survival, With Better Quality of Life and Lower Costs

Cytoreductive Surgery Is the Best Way to Affect Survival Outcomes

Despite previously reported progression-free survival improvements with cediranib, results from the ICON6 trial failed to show a statistically significant improvement in overall survival.

Systematic lymphadenectomy in patients with advanced ovarian cancer and complete resection does not improve progression-free or overall survival, and should be omitted, according to results of a new study.

Adding bevacizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not improve complete macroscopic response rate or progression-free survival in women with ovarian cancer.

Platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer patients with a positive predictive AGO score who undergo a secondary debulking surgery after relapse on platinum chemotherapy experience longer progression-free survival.

Despite toxicity, olaparib maintenance therapy is associated with improved patient-reported symptoms outcomes and improved quality-adjusted progression-free survival among patients with germline BRCA mutation-positive, platinum-sensitive relapsed serious ovarian cancer.

A phase I study combining the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab with either olaparib or cediranib found that the combinations are reasonably well tolerated and active in recurrent women’s cancers.

Patients with ovarian cancer who express the NY-ESO-1 testis antigen have significantly shorter overall survival than those who do not, according to a new study. These patients may benefit from immunotherapy agents.

New research suggests that hypertension and diabetes and the use of medications to treat these conditions may influence the survival of ovarian cancer patients.

PARP inhibitors are an active, novel, and exciting class of anticancer agents. They have shown clear patient benefit in gBRCA, HR-deficient, and other ovarian cancers.

The use of cediranib as concurrent treatment with chemotherapy and as maintenance therapy in relapsed ovarian cancer was not associated with declines in quality of life.

The FDA announced the approval of niraparib, an oral PARP inhibitor, for the treatment of recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.

A new international study has identified 12 new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer.

A novel compound known as PM01183 showed promising activity in a two-stage phase II trial of women with platinum-resistant/refractory ovarian cancer.

The addition of the immune therapy motolimod to pegylated liposomal doxorubicin failed to improve overall survival among women with recurrent epithelial ovarian carcinoma in a randomized phase II trial.

A long-term phase III trial found that maintenance chemotherapy did not improve overall survival over surveillance among women with advanced ovarian/fallopian tube/peritoneal cancer who had a complete response to first-line therapy.

Molecular expression analysis found that high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas exhibit significant alterations to cell cycle genes, DNA damage genes, and other pathways following treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

We spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Swisher about the ARIEL2 trial and the role of rucaparib in ovarian cancer.

Event-free survival was not maintained in children and adolescents with intermediate-risk malignant germ cell tumors when cisplatin-based chemotherapy was reduced from four to three cycles and compressed from 5 to 3 days per cycles.

California researchers are now suggesting that analyzing copies of genes may point to new treatments for ovarian cancer as well as for other tumor types. The researchers contend that targetable genetic changes in tumors should not be limited to mutations.

A small study found that it is feasible to detect BRCA1/2 reversion mutations in circulating cell-free DNA in patients with recurrent high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Those reversion mutations can help predict poor response to therapy in these patients.

Woman who undergo bilateral removal of ovaries at the time of hysterectomy have higher risks of all-cause mortality afterward, including hospital admission for ischemic heart disease.

An analysis of Lynch syndrome–associated ovarian cancer found that the malignancy tends to present at an early stage and has a generally good prognosis.