Dr. Dowdy on the Association of Molecular Subtypes and Responses to Bevacizumab in Ovarian Cancer

Sean C. Dowdy, MD, professor, chair, Division of Gynecologic Surgery, co-leader, Women’s Cancer Program, Mayo Clinic, discusses the association of molecular subtypes and responses to bevacizumab in ovarian cancer.

In the ICON7 study, it was shown that adding first-line bevacizumab to carboplatin and paclitaxel for the treatment of ovarian cancer improves progression-free survival, but not overall survival.

The goal of this analysis, which Dowdy discusses, was to determine if response to bevacizumab was associated with a molecular classification (differentiated, immunoreactive, mesenchymal and proliferative) as described by The Cancer Genome Atlas project. It was seen that the proliferative and mesenchymal groups responded better to bevacizumab.