Tag Archives: ovarian cancer

The levels of immune cells within ovarian cancer tumors correlate with survival

Researches with the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analyses Consortium analyzed the CD8+ (cytotoxic T-cell) content of tumors from 5,500 patients and compared them with clinical outcome. The analysis was large enough to allow for comparison by histologic subtype – endometrioid, clear cell, mucinous, and low-grade serous ovarian cancer, as well as high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Included in the sample were 3,200 high grade serous ovarian cancers. Continue reading

VB-111, A Novel Gene Therapeutic Agent in Cancer- Ashini R. Dias, Contributor

The formation of new blood vessels or angiogenesis is a normal process required for growth and wound healing. Unfortunately, it also plays a critically enabling role in the growth, proliferation, invasion and metastasis of cancers since tumors cannot grow beyond a certain size without a blood supply. The resulting new blood vessels feed the growing tumors with necessary oxygen and nutrients, allowing the cancer cells to invade nearby tissue, and gain access to immature blood vessels to metastasize throughout the body. Platelet Derived Growth Factor (PDGF), which is secreted by carcinoma cells, is the most important signaling molecule to stimulate and proliferate stromal cells. Myofibroblasts, transdifferentiated from stromal fibroblasts by PDGF, secretes chemokines that recruit endothelial precursor cells (EPC) in to the stroma. Myofibroblasts also secrete vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which induces the differentiation of EPCs into endothelial cells, subsequently forming the neo-vasculature. Continue reading

SOR-C13 and Psaptides for Ovarian Cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan-drug designation to peptide SOR-C13 (Sorcimed) for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Additionally, two forms of a peptide derived from a naturally-occurring human protein (Psaptides) can force tumors to shrink significantly in an animal model of metastatic ovarian cancerContinue reading

ROCA Ovarian Cancer Test for Early Detection

Each year, about 20,000 women in the United States get ovarian cancer. Among women in the United States, ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death, after lung and bronchus, breast, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers. In 2012 (the most recent year numbers are available)— 20,785 women in the United States were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and 14,404 women in the United States died from ovarian cancer. Continue reading

Amgen’s Trebananib Does Not Meet Overall Survival Endpoint in Phase Study of Ovarian Cancer Patients

Angiopoietin inhibitor, trebananib, did not extend overall survival (OS) in a Phase 3 study in ovarian cancer. In the TRINOVA-1 trial of 900 women with recurrent ovarian cancer following platinum-based chemotherapy, patients receiving trebananib plus paclitaxel had a 19.3 month overall survival versus 18.3 months OS for women receiving paclitaxel, alone.  The difference was not statistically significant. Continue reading

PARP inhibitor rejected by FDA Advisory Committee, then Approved for refractory patients

In June 2014, the FDA Oncology Drug Advisory Committee voted 11-2 to delay approval of AstraZeneca’s olaparib, a PARP (poly-ADP ribose polymerase) inhibitor for maintenance therapy in patients with ovarian cancer.  The product received Accelerate Approval designation from the FDA, which provides for conditional approval pending follow-up studies, based on surrogate endpoints from Phase 2 trials, in this case, progression-free survival (PFS).  Continue reading