In patients with advanced ovarian cancer, a combination of drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors and PARP inhibitors can produce powerful remissions, clinical trials have shown, but up until now investigators haven’t been able to predict which patients won’t benefit from the treatment and should explore other options. A new study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers, is showing that it’s now possible to identify such patients in advance.
The study, published online today by Nature Communications, will help investigators testing this combination direct such patients to trials that may have a better chance of helping them.
The study authors found that two factors – a specific pattern of gene mutations in the tumor cells and evidence of a vigorous immune response to the cancer – are markers of whether patients will respond to the combination therapy. Patients whose tumor tissue had either of these features were more likely to have their disease held in check for an extended period of time, whereas those whose tissue lacked either feature showed no benefit from the drug combination.
