Drug trial shows hope for ovarian cancer treatments

A drug previously used to treat melanoma has been shown to offer improved treatment for women with a rare type of ovarian cancer compared to current therapies.

The drug - trametinib – was used in a clinical trial of 260 patients with low grade serous ovarian cancer. Trametinib is part of the class of drugs known as MEK inhibitors, which work by blocking an abnormal signal in the cancer cell that causes it to multiply in an uncontrollable fashion.

Results from the trial showed the drug quadruples the likelihood of a response compared to standard therapies and that it can halve the speed of relapse.

The trial was led by teams at the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Centre and the University of Edinburgh’s Nicola Murray Centre for Ovarian Cancer Research. 

Low grade serous ovarian grade cancer has been particularly difficult to treat, and the researchers hope that this new drug will pave the way for better outcomes.

The disease differs from other types of ovarian cancer as it affects women at a younger age and is often resistant to standard chemotherapy.

Standard treatment for ovarian cancer currently involves surgery and chemotherapy. Though most patients show no evidence of disease after treatment, it’s thought that 70% will relapse after three years.

During the trial patients were randomly assigned either trametinib daily or their doctor’s choice of five currently available therapies.

Patients who received trametinib showed a chance of progression-free survival that was more than double that of those who received standard of care treatment.

The percentage of patients whose tumour shrank was more than four times higher in trametinib patients compared to those treated with the standard of care.  

Professor Charlie Gourley, clinical director of the CRUK Edinburgh Centre and director of the Nicola Murray Centre for Ovarian Cancer Research at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Low grade serous ovarian cancer is different from other ovarian cancers because it affects younger women and is often resistant to chemotherapy. This is the first positive, randomised trial in this disease and represents a major breakthrough for patients with this type of ovarian cancer.”