Dr. O'Malley on Folate-Receptor Alpha as a Biomarker in Ovarian Cancer

David O’Malley, MD, professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses folate-receptor alpha (FRα) as a biomarker for mirvetuximab soravtansine response in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer.

FRα is starting to pan out as a biomarker for mirvetuximab soravtansine, O’Malley says. In the phase Ib FORWARD II study presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, researchers looked at patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and divided them into subgroups based on FRα expression. Low expressers were defined as 25% to 50%, moderate expressers were 50% to 75%, and high expressers were >75%. As more experience has been gained with the use of mirvetuximab soravtansine in these patient populations, gynecologic oncologists are starting to see that the medium- and high-expressers of FRα are doing better in the progression-free and overall survival data.

O’Malley adds that while they are now focusing on the medium and high expressers, marked responses are still seen in the low expressers.