An experimental treatment, comprising of a combination of drugs, significantly shrunk tumours in nearly half of clinical trial patients with ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer among women. In 2018, it accounted for almost 200,000 deaths and 300,000 cases. Compared to other cancers, it has lower success rates with chemotherapy and other treatments. Moreover, low grade serious ovarian cancer is even harder to treat. This is a rare form of ovarian cancer that occurs at an earlier age. Only 1 in 8 low grade serious ovarian cancer patients respond to chemotherapy, whereas 1 in 7 responds to hormone therapy. Therefore, doctors are on the search for effective treatment options for this uncommon type of ovarian cancer.
In an effort to find an effective treatment, the team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust have started the FRAME trial. It aims to test a combination of the drugs, VS-6766 and defactinib. Both the treatments work by blocking cancer cells’ signals needed for the tumour’s growth. The researchers recruited 25 patients with low-grade serous ovarian cancer, for the phase 1 trial.
The results from the phase 1 trial were recently presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Progress. According to the results, nearly half of the patients (46%) saw a significant reduction in their tumour size. Moreover, patients with a mutation in the KRAS gene showed even more promising results. KRAS mutation is common in cancers and makes tumours difficult to treat. However, the experimental treatment led to tumour shrinkage in 64% of patients with the mutation.
We’re very hopeful that this could become the standard of care for women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer.
Dr Susana Banerjee, Team Leader in Women’s Cancers at The Institute of Cancer Research
Recruitment for Phase 2 Trials Underway
Notably, none of the patients had previously responded well to chemotherapy or hormonal treatments. Moreover, the patients went an average of 23 months before the tumour progressing.
Despite the exciting results, researchers are sceptical due to the study’s small sample size. Although Phase 1 trials are more for testing a treatment’s safety, the clinical response is a significant step in finding an effective solution.
Researchers have already begun recruiting participants for a phase II trial. The trial is expected to involve 100 participants and will compare the drug combination with VS-6766 alone. Researchers aim to assess the treatment’s efficacy with the trial.
If these findings are confirmed in larger trials, they’ll represent a significant advance in low-grade serous ovarian cancer treatment.
Dr Susana Banerjee, Team Leader in Women’s Cancers at The Institute of Cancer Research
Reference:
Annals of Oncology (2021) 32 (suppl_5): S725-S772. 10.1016/annonc/annonc703
