Ovarian Cancer

Maurie Markman, MD, from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discusses the discovery of mutations and targets in ovarian cancer and the current progress being made in the development of a "breakthrough" agent for ovarian cancer.

Hot topics, emerging therapies, and tough cases from the front lines of patient care will be featured during the 9th Annual International Symposium on Ovarian Cancer and Gynecologic Malignancies, scheduled for October 5 in Philadelphia.

Whether it involves the minutiae of preclinical studies or the broad perspective of group leadership, if the work concerns gynecologic oncology, Ronald D. Alvarez, MD, has likely tried it.

Carol Aghajanian, MD, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the difficulties with a gold standard clinical trial endpoint in ovarian cancer.

Recently, Girish M. Shah's team has been using cellular and murine models to examine various therapeutic options, including inhibitor and gene knockout approaches against the DNA damage-responsive enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1).

Agustin A. Garcia, MD, associate professor of medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, discusses the future role of PARP inhibitors for patients with ovarian cancer and breast cancer.

The first patient has been enrolled in a phase III clinical program investigating treatment with olaparib for patients with BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer, marking another step in the revived development of an agent once relegated to the sidelines.

A two-pronged approach that includes carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA-125) testing proved highly accurate in screening women for ovarian cancer, including aggressive forms of the disease.

The use of a chemoresponse assay to assess therapy choices for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer correlated with dramatic improvements in overall survival and progression-free survival.

An analysis of more than 13,000 patients with ovarian cancer found that only around 37% of patients receive care that adheres to the NCCN guidelines.

Women with advanced ovarian cancer lived almost a year longer when treated with intraperitoneal chemotherapy instead of intravenous therapy.

Highlights of key findings from several phase I clinical trials that provide insight into new and emerging druggable targets and targeted therapies.

A two-step immunotherapy approach consisting of adoptive T-cell therapy and a dendritic cell vaccine has shown activity in a phase I advanced ovarian cancer clinical trial.

Carol Aghajanian, MD, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the treatment of ovarian cancer with PARP inhibitors.

A dual-action PARP inhibitor has shown sufficient clinical activity to continue its investigation in women with recurrent BRCA-mutant ovarian cancer.

Ellen T. Matloff, MS, CGC, from the Yale School of Medicine/Yale Cancer Center, describes the impact of the US Supreme Court decision to restrict the patenting of segments of DNA in isolation.

David D. Chang, MD, PhD, head of global oncology development at Amgen, discusses the design of the TRINOVA-1 trial in ovarian cancer.

Jane Robertson, MD, Global Product Vice President for olaparib at AstraZeneca, discusses a trial looking at olaparib for patients with serous ovarian cancer.

Clinical judgment may appropriately decide that based on a particular patient's medical status it may not be in that individual's best interest to undergo guideline-based therapy.

Treatment with the investigational agent trebananib resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of progression or death in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a phase III study.

A simple visual screening test using vinegar has the potential to dramatically reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer in the developing world, according to findings from a large study in India, where use of the screening tool yielded a 31% reduction in cervical cancer mortality.

An oral targeted drug already approved by the FDA for the treatment of kidney cancer and soft tissue sarcoma has been found to extend disease-free survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer.

Andreas du Bois, MD, from Kliniken Essen Mitte in Essen, Germany, discusses a phase III trial exploring the effectiveness of treatment with maintenance pazopanib for patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

The decision about whether to get tested for a genetic mutation that may predispose a person to certain cancers is a difficult one for many patients to make. Even more difficult for mutation carriers is deciding whether to undergo a prophylactic surgical procedure.

The SGO asserts that women with gynecologic cancers frequently receive uncoordinated, fragmented testing and treatment from multiple providers at a variety of sites, often without the involvement of a specialist or supportive services.