Advances in Ovarian Cancer Treatment
SHARE

Fact Checked

SurvivorNet Fact Checking and Medical Review Standards:  

The SurvivorNet News Team creates high quality medical information that complies with our industry leading standards for factual accuracy and sourcing from leading experts at academic medical institutions. Every news article is thoroughly fact-checked by our physician collaborators. We vet each piece of work for factual integrity, impartiality, and clearly label any professional conflicts.

All SurvivorNet articles adhere to the following standards:

  1. All studies and research papers cited are from reputable academic medical institutions or peer-reviewed journals.
  2. When we use data, statistics, or quotes these references link to the original source.
  3. All content related to new treatments, drugs, procedures, and so on must clearly describe availability, side effects, treatment target (such as triple negative breast cancer)
  4. All medical information on SurvivorNet is sourced from respected medical professionals with verified medical credentials and links are provided to these sources.
  5. We strive to give the reader relevant background information and include, clearly-sourced contextual health information in all articles. Readers are clearly alerted to any conflicts of interest from a medical source or the authors of a cited study.
/ Updated August 3rd, 2022

Advances in Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Medical Source: Dr. Daniel Metzinger
University of Louisville
×

Treatment Advances in Ovarian Cancer

  • Recent years have seen the introduction of several new ovarian cancer treatments
  • Bevacizumab (brand name Avastin) is a targeted therapy for the first-line treatment, recurrence, and maintenance therapy of ovarian cancer
  • PARP inhibitors may improve progression-free survival time
  • Other new treatments, including a dendritic cell vaccine, are in the development pipeline
From the late 1990s, when Dr. Daniel Metzinger completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Louisville Hospital, to when he started practicing medicine a few years later, little had changed in ovarian cancer treatment. Surgery and chemotherapy remained the mainstays of therapy.

There had been some trials around experimental procedures like intraperitoneal chemotherapy, giving the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol) directly in the abdominal cavity, but some patients who received this treatment had to deal with side effects like belly pain, nausea, and vomiting.

Read More
"We were just kind of messing around with stuff and tweaking," says Dr. Metzinger, who is now a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Louisville. "But nothing really new came out."

Fast forward to today. Over the last few years, a wave of new therapies has revolutionized the treatment of ovarian cancer, and transformed it into a more manageable disease. "All of a sudden you started hearing about bevacizumab (Avastin), and now we have PARP inhibitors, and now I just think it’s breaking open," Dr. Metzinger says.

Bevacizumab

Bevacizumab (brand name Avastin), belongs to a group of targeted drugs known as angiogenesis inhibitors. Unlike chemotherapy, which indiscriminately kills all quickly dividing cells, including cancer cells, bevacizumab hones in on cancer more specifically, by targeting the blood supply it needs to grow.

Bevacizumab blocks a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which promotes the growth of blood vessels that feed the cancer. By blocking VEGF, the treatment essentially starves the tumor of the nutrients it needs to survive.

This drug can be an option for women with ovarian cancer who are just starting treatment, those whose cancer has returned, and as a maintenance therapy to keep the cancer at bay. Avastin may be paired up with chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors, namely olaparib with effective results. The drug comes as an infusion that you get into a vein every two to three weeks.

Side effects from bevacizumab can include:

  • High blood pressure
  • Fatigue
  • Bleeding
  • Headache
  • Blurred vision
  • Appetite loss
  • Low white blood cell count
  • Holes in the colon (perforations)

PARP Inhibitors

Another new treatment targets ovarian cancer cells' self-repair mechanism. PARP (short for poly (ADP)-ribose polymerase) inhibitors block an enzyme cancer cells use to fix their own DNA. Without the ability to repair this damage, the cancer cells can't multiply.

PARP inhibitors are particularly effective in women whose cancers have a BRCA gene mutation, which already compromises the cells' ability to repair DNA damage. However, one PARP inhibitor, niraparib was also recently been approved for use in women who lack this gene mutation.

Three PARP inhibitors are FDA-approved for ovarian cancer:

  • Niraparib (Zejula)
  • Olaparib (Lynparza)
  • Rucaparib (Rubraca)

Studies indicate that these drugs, when used as first-line treatment, maintenance therapy, or both, can significantly extend the amount of time before the cancer returns or gets worse.

Most recently, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released new guidelines recommending PARP inhibitors be offered to women, with or without genetic mutations, who are newly diagnosed with stage III or IV ovarian cancer and have improved with chemotherapy.

Side effects of PARP inhibitor drugs include:

  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Fatigue
  • Appetite loss
  • Taste changes
  • Low red blood cell counts (anemia)

Treatment Pipeline

In addition to these approved treatments, several other ovarian cancer therapies are working their way through clinical trials. One promising approach is immunotherapy, which turbo-charges the body's own immune system response to help it better target and kill cancer cells.

Currently, the standard of care when ovarian cancer returns after treatment is chemotherapy. Early research suggests that adding a type of immunotherapy called a dendritic cell vaccine (DCVAC) to chemotherapy improves survival. In women whose ovarian cancer relapsed, the addition of DVAC decreased the risk of death by 62% and increased overall survival by about 13 months.

Other types of immunotherapies, including checkpoint inhibitors, are also under investigation, as are combinations of immunotherapy and other targeted treatments. If you're interested in trying one of these new therapies, ask your doctor about enrolling in a clinical trial.

These and other innovations are transforming ovarian cancer treatment today, and will likely continue to do so in the future. "I think what I’m going to be doing 10 years from now is going to be way different than I’m doing right now," Dr. Metzinger says.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Dr. Daniel Metzinger is a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Read More

SN Local - Explore Ovarian Cancer expertise and community near you:

Related Content
NOW
PLAYING
Systemic Treatments for Advanced Gastric Cancer: Eligibility is Not the Whole Story
NOW
PLAYING
New Studies Suggest Breastfeeding, Which TV Personality Coco Austin Did For Years, After Breast Cancer May Reduce Recurrence Risk or New Breast Cancer Diagnoses
NOW
PLAYING
Hope For Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model, 40, Who Qualifies For Game Changing Ovarian Cancer Medicine— Understanding BRCA Gene Mutations, PARP Inhibitors & Who Benefits Most
NOW
PLAYING
Sisters With Ovarian Cancer Three Weeks Apart, Find Hope In Clinical Trial to Combat 'The Cancer That Whispers'
NOW
PLAYING
Why Model Elle Macpherson's Breast Cancer Treatment Decision Is Not Necessarily So Controversial; The Serious Study of Overtreatment
NOW
PLAYING
'Dancing With The Stars' Samantha Harris, 50, Has Devastating Breast Cancer Recurrence- How She's Handling The Emotional Rollercoaster

Patient Pathfinder:

Clinical Trial Finder

Are you looking for other treatment options?
Right now there are ... ovarian cancer trials in the U.S. within 100 miles of

Enter your zip code and travel distance to explore trials in your area...

Continue The Journey

Explore: Maintenance

Related Articles

New Studies Suggest Breastfeeding, Which TV Personality Coco Austin Did For Years, After Breast Cancer May Reduce Recurrence Risk or New Breast Cancer Diagnoses

Recurrence

Sisters With Ovarian Cancer Three Weeks Apart, Find Hope In Clinical Trial to Combat ‘The Cancer That Whispers’

Why Model Elle Macpherson’s Breast Cancer Treatment Decision Is Not Necessarily So Controversial; The Serious Study of Overtreatment

‘Dancing With The Stars’ Samantha Harris, 50, Has Devastating Breast Cancer Recurrence- How She’s Handling The Emotional Rollercoaster

×

Introducing, the Journey Bar

Use this bar to access information about the steps in your cancer journey.

Please confirm you are a US based health care provider:

Yes, I am a health care Provider No, I am not a health care provider