ASCO Ovarian Cancer Spotlight

BRCA mutation testing in patients with ovarian cancer could mean a world of difference in treatment, says Robert Coleman, MD.

Early identification of BRCA mutations can significantly help inform future treatment choices for patients with ovarian cancer, says Leslie Randall, MD.

A novel dual-pathway inhibitor of tumor angiogenesis passed a preliminary clinical test, demonstrating manageable toxicity and biomarker evidence of engagement with the drug's targets, as reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Robert L. Coleman, MD, discusses the importance of early BRCA testing for patients with ovarian cancer.

The largest-ever genetic analysis of ovarian cancer patients yielded a short list of 11 suspect germline genetic mutations that may be associated with an increased risk for developing ovarian cancer, according to an oral presentation at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Loss of genomic heterozygosity is a marker for the efficacy of rucaparib even in patients without BRCA 1 and 2 mutations, according to a poster presented Monday at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

It is feasible to administer the PARP inhibitor niraparib in combination with bevacizumab to patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer with manageable toxicities. The results of a phase I study (NCT02354131) in 12 patients were presented during a poster session at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Napabucasin (BBI-608, BB608) is a first-in-class cancer "stemness" inhibitor that targets the STAT3 pathway, has acceptable toxicity, and shows some antitumor activity in combination with paclitaxel in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Results of an early phase trial were presented at a poster session at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Avelumab (MSB0010718C), a fully human anti-PD-L1 (programmed death-1 receptor ligand) IgG1 antibody, showed activity in patients with heavily pretreated recurrent or refractory ovarian cancer with acceptable toxicity in the phase Ib JAVELIN Solid Tumor trial.

The PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) significantly increased overall survival (OS) in women with platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer when given as maintenance monotherapy. These interim results, a third updated survival analysis, come from an extension of the Study 19 phase II trial and were presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Durvalumab, an investigational PD-L1 targeting drug, is the subject of a unique ongoing basket trial being conducted by the National Institutes of Health, and was part of a single arm phase I combination therapy study of the drug in 19 patients with cervical cancer, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), ovarian cancer, or uterine leiomyosarcoma.

Findings from a population-based study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting revealed that young black women with breast cancer are much less likely to undergo testing for the BRCA gene or to get risk reducing prophylactic mastectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy than other women.

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IP) was well tolerated by patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and reduced the risk of progressive disease.