Grisham, Rachel Nicole

The NCCN Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer/Fallopian Tube Cancer/Primary Peritoneal Cancer provide multidisciplinary diagnostic workup, staging, and treatment recommendations for this disease. These NCCN Guidelines Insights detail how the evolution of the use of PARP inhibitors as maintenance and single-agent regimens for the treatment of ovarian cancer informed panel recommendations in the guidelines.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer in the United States, with less than half of patients living >5 years following diagnosis. The NCCN Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer provide recommendations for the diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up for patients with ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancers. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel discussion behind recent important updates to the guidelines, including revised guidance on alternative chemotherapy regimens for patients with advanced age and/or comorbidities, a new algorithm for recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma based on developing research and novel therapeutic agents, and updated language regarding tumor molecular analysis applications in ovarian cancer.

PURPOSEThe purpose of this phase II study was to evaluate hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) with carboplatin for recurrent ovarian cancer during secondary cytoreductive surgery.MATERIALS AND METHODSPatients were intraoperatively randomly assigned to carboplatin HIPEC (800 mg/m2for 90 minutes) or no HIPEC, followed by five or six cycles of postoperative IV carboplatin-based chemotherapy, respectively. Based on a binomial single-stage pick-the-winner design, an arm was considered winner if ≥ 17 of 49 patients were without disease progression at 24 months post-surgery. Secondary objectives included postoperative toxicity and HIPEC pharmacokinetics.RESULTSOf 98 patients, 49 (50%) received HIPEC. Complete gross resection was achieved in 82% of the HIPEC patients and 94% of the standard-arm patients. Bowel resection was performed in 37% of patients in the HIPEC arm compared with 65% in the standard ( P = .008). There was no perioperative mortality and no difference in use of ostomies, length of stay, or postoperative toxicity. At 24 months, eight patients (16.3%; 1-sided 90% CI, 9.7 to 100) were without progression or death in the HIPEC arm and 12 (24.5%; 1-sided 90% CI, 16.5 to 100) in the standard arm. With a medium follow-up of 39.5 months, 82 patients progressed and 37 died. The median progression-free survival in the HIPEC and standard arms were 12.3 and 15.7 months, respectively (hazard ratio, 1.54; 95% CI, 1 to 2.37; P = .05). There was no significant difference in median overall survival (52.5 v 59.7 months, respectively; hazard ratio, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.73 to 2.67; P = .31). These analyses were exploratory.CONCLUSIONHIPEC with carboplatin was well tolerated but did not result in superior clinical outcomes. This study does not support the use of HIPEC with carboplatin during secondary cytoreductive surgery for platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer in the United States and is the country’s fifth most common cause of cancer mortality in women. A major challenge in treating ovarian cancer is that most patients have advanced disease at initial diagnosis. These NCCN Guidelines discuss cancers originating in the ovary, fallopian tube, or peritoneum, as these are all managed in a similar manner. Most of the recommendations are based on data from patients with the most common subtypes─high-grade serous and grade 2/3 endometrioid. The NCCN Guidelines also include recommendations specifically for patients with less common ovarian cancers, which in the guidelines include the following: carcinosarcoma, clear cell carcinoma, mucinous carcinoma, low-grade serous, grade 1 endometrioid, borderline epithelial, malignant sex cord-stromal, and malignant germ cell tumors. This manuscript focuses on certain aspects of primary treatment, including primary surgery, adjuvant therapy, and maintenance therapy options (including PARP inhibitors) after completion of first-line chemotherapy.

Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to date have demonstrated limited activity in advanced ovarian cancer (OC). Folate receptor alpha (FRα) is overexpressed in the majority of OCs and presents an attractive target for a combination immunotherapy to potentially overcome resistance to ICI in OCs. The current study sought to examine clinical and immunologic responses to TPIV200, a multiepitope FRα vaccine administered with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor durvalumab in patients with advanced platinum-resistant OC. Methods Following Simon two-stage phase II trial design, 27 patients were enrolled. Treatment was administered in 28-day cycles (intradermal TPIV200 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for 6 cycles and intravenous durvalumab for 12 cycles). Primary endpoints included overall response rate and progression-free survival at 24 weeks. Translational parameters focused on tumor microenvironment, PD-L1 and FRα expression, and peripheral vaccine-specific immune responses. Results Treatment was well tolerated, with related grade 3 toxicity rate of 18.5%. Increased T cell responses to the majority of peptides were observed in all patients at 6 weeks (p<0.0001). There was one unconfirmed partial response (3.7%) and nine patients had stable disease (33.3%). Clinical benefit was not associated with baseline FRα or PD-L1 expression. One patient with prolonged clinical benefit demonstrated loss of FRα expression and upregulation of PD-L1 in a progressing lesion. Despite the low overall response rate, the median overall survival was 21 months (13.5–∞), with evidence of benefit from postimmunotherapy regimens. Conclusions Combination of TPIV200 and durvalumab was safe and elicited robust FRα-specific T cell responses in all patients. Unexpectedly durable survival in this heavily pretreated population highlights the need to investigate the impact of FRα vaccination on the OC biology post-treatment.

6016 Background: The role of HIPEC for recurrent EOC is not well defined. The aim of this phase II study was to determine the proportion of pts without evidence of disease progression at 24 months post SCS +/- intraoperative carboplatin HIPEC. Methods: After SCS to ≤ 0.5 cm residual visible disease pts were intraoperatively randomized to carboplatin HIPEC (800mg/m2 for 90 minutes) or no HIPEC. The HIPEC arm received 5 additional and the standard arm received 6 postoperative cycles of IV platinum-based chemotherapy without maintenance treatment. Based on an exact binomial single stage “pick the winner” design, each arm is considered “winner” if ≥ 17/49 pts are without evidence of disease progression at 24 months post SCS. Secondary objectives include postoperative grade ≥ 3 toxicity and complications within 4 weeks post SCS, and pharmacokinetics of carboplatin HIPEC. Results: Of 98 pts, 49 (50%) were randomized to the HIPEC arm. The arms were well balanced for age, stage, histology, BRCA mutation status, prior chemotherapy, and disease-free interval. Complete gross SCS was achieved in 94% of the standard and 82% of the HIPEC arm (p = 0.12). Bowel resection was performed more frequently in the standard (65%) compared to the HIPEC arm (37%; p = 0.008). Median operative time was shorter in the standard (296 minutes) compared to the HIPEC arm (475 minutes; p < 0.001). There was no perioperative mortality and no difference in use of ostomies, length of stay or postoperative toxicity. At a median follow-up of 27.7 months (range: 8.8-81.8 months) 70 of 98 pts progressed and 26 died with a median progression free survival (PFS) of 14.3 months (12.1-16 months) and a median overall survival (OS) of 55.2 months (47.7-not reached). At 24 months post SCS 32 pts progressed within 24 months in the standard versus 35 in the HIPEC arm. There was no statistically significant difference in median PFS (15.4 vs 12.3 months, p = 0.173) or median OS (69.2 vs 53.1 months, p = 0.317) between arms. These are preliminary efficacy estimates as 83/98 pts have a minimum of 24 months follow-up. Conclusions: The HIPEC arm did not reach the predefined “winner” endpoint; the standard arm is still undetermined as 6 pts did not reach 24 months follow-up. No perioperative mortality, and no increased perioperative morbidity or toxicity was seen with HIPEC. SCS with carboplatin HIPEC followed by 5 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy was not superior to SCS without HIPEC followed by 6 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy. Clinical trial information: NCT01767675.