Individulizing Treatment and Exploring Options in Ovarian Cancer

Christina Fotopoulou, MD, PhD, chair in gynecological cancer surgery in the department of surgery and cancer, faculty of medicine, Imperial College London, discusses recent developments in ovarian cancer and explains how one can individualize treatments when managing patients.

According to Fotopoulou, several new targeted therapies and treatment approaches have emerged in recent years, offering additional options for patients with ovarian cancer. Despite these developments, it often remains difficult to personalize treatment plans as there is a lack of definitive biomarkers and algorithms to guide individual patient decisions.

Further research is needed to develop better tools in this space and to address existing knowledge gaps to optimize patient care in ovarian cancer.

Transcription:

0:09 | We have experienced, in the last years especially, a plethora of new agents in ovarian cancer. We have never seen so many positive trials in ovarian cancer with so many new targeted agents and so many new aspects of care that we can explore. However, what I also emphasize is that we still fail to have concrete biomarkers and concrete individualization algorithms of which patient groups will benefit from. Currently, it is like we are in a new playground and we need to put them a bit under perspective and to put them a bit more in order for a more individualized treatment perspective.

1:07 | In ovarian cancer, we have learned in the last year that there are biomarkers. There are new things that we explore. What we are not very good [at] yet is finding the path. For example, in some studies like MIRASOL [NCT04209855], there are different catalogs for the folate receptor alpha, and the HRD scores. Now, even in my institution, we are doing extensive research to see that there is a very big heterogeneity, spatial heterogeneity within the same patient, even for the HRD scores. There are still many things that we don't understand. For example, in more common cancers like breast cancer, [there are] concrete algorithms where this patient with that signature will get this [specific] treatment, but not yet [in ovarian cancer]. And in surgery, it is even less. Currently in surgery, we just operate everybody the same way, which would definitely need to change.