Abstract TMIM-082: OVACURE - BRINGING PERSONALIZED TREATMENT TO WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER
Authors: Pegalajar-Jurado Adoracion 
Published: June 2021

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of many types of cancer and is now undergoing testing in ovarian cancer (OC). Several immunotherapeutic approaches are currently being developed for OC treatment; including tumor infiltrating lymphocytes based adoptive cell therapy (TIL based ACT), chimeric antigen receptor–modified T-cells (CAR T-cell), personalized vaccines and immune checkpoint blockade. Additionally, the importance of using combination of therapies and obtaining information on different group of patients (treatment responsive and unresponsive) prior to designing new approaches, has been widely identified. Although being able to choose a more targeted combination therapy can potentially be lifesaving for OC patients; identifying the successful treatment combination is challenging due to the low mutation frequency in this cancer and the variability observed patient to patient.

Our goal is to support OC patients from a synergetic point of view. OvaCure portfolio contributes to almost all the immunotherapeutic approaches mentioned above; as well as to understanding how patients respond to different treatment combinations and how this information can be used to improve patient care. OvaCure's T-cell Immune Therapy Branch consist in three parallel trials that build in and complement each other, and that aim to make a meaningful impact by moving forward TIL based ACT. Our first clinical trial is led by Prof. Svane - Denmark, and has already contributed to state-of-the-art of stablishing the medical plausibility of treating recurrent OC with TIL based ACT. The clinical Phase I/II - Immunotherapy by adoptive T-cell infusion in the event of advanced ovarian cancer (stage III/IV), will be completed in 2019 and will provide an overview of the clinical efficacy of TIL based ACT in combination with anti-CTLA-4 antibody Ipilimumab and PD-1 antibody. The second trial, clinical Phase I - Combined chemo- and adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) as treatment for recurrent epithelial ovarian carcinoma, is led by Ass. Prof. Verdegaal - The Netherlands. Patient enrolment commenced early 2018, and the trial will provide insight on the role of interferon alfa in enhancement of T-cell survival, improvement of TILs persistence and effectiveness, and in lowering toxicity for patients. The third project in our T-cell Immune Therapy Branch is led by Prof. Coukos – Switzerland, and aims to identify the human tumour cells expressed antigenic determinants. The coming Clinical Phase I will assess the clinical efficacy of utilizing the selected tumor-specific T-cells against OC. Tumour-match: Combination of immune therapy with a next generation patient selection platform to improve treatment outcomes is also part of our portfolio. Herein, Dr. Mirza combines two breakthroughs in cancer: immune therapy with a next generation patient selection platform using RNA sequencing. This study strives to develop gene expression signatures that could guide treatment decisions, can be used to monitor disease progression and open the window to diagnostic opportunities.

OvaCure's core focus is to make a positive impression on society by supporting experimental, bold and risk-taking research; as well as, promoting awareness through public outreach. Visit our website (www.ovacure.org) for more information about our research and activities.

Citation Format: Adoracion Pegalajar-Jurado. OVACURE - BRINGING PERSONALIZED TREATMENT TO WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 12th Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium; Sep 13-15, 2018; Seattle, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2019;25(22 Suppl):Abstract nr TMIM-082.