Avastin Found Effective Against Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Avastin Found Effective Against Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer

According to the results of a study presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, chemotherapy-bavacizumab dual therapy increases survival duration in patients with ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is a type of malignancy often fatal as  it is usually diagnosed in its late stages. Worldwide, more than 230 000 women are suffering from ovarian cancer and about 70% of them die within 5 years after the diagnosis. Risk factors for ovarian cancer include late menopause and nuliparity. Family history of breast cancer, endometrial or colon cancer also increases the risk of developing ovarian cancer. Moreover, BRCA gene mutations are responsible for about 15% of  all ovarian cancers cases.

Ovarian cancer is aggressive by direct extension of the cancer cells. A particular feature of this cancer is peritoneal seeding, expansion of cancer cells in the peritoneum. Metastasis can occur by hematogenous way to liver or to the lungs. Sometimes it is diagnosed when complications occur such as ascites or intestinal obstruction. In terms of symptoms, ovarian cancer may be asymptomatic in its early stages. There are cases when women see the doctor for severe abdominal pain caused by torsion of the tumor mass. In some cases a palpable abdominal mass, hard, irregular and fixed is discovered by the clinician. Usually, symptoms are nonspecific and consist of nausea, bloating, dyspepsia, back pain, early satiety. During its evolution  flatulence, pelvic pain, anemia and cachexia may also occur.

Treatment varies depending on the type of cancer and disease stage. Generally, curative treatment consists of surgery (hysterectomy, bilateral adnexectomy and lymphadenectomy) combined with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy after surgery is performed to remove residual tumor tissue. There are also cases in which chemotherapy is performed before the surgical act.

Bevacizumab (Avastin) is a monoclonal antibody that inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), thus inhibiting angiogenesis. This drug is used in many types of cancers, such as breast cancer, kidney cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer and glioblastoma . Although it was initially approved for metastatic breast cancer, it was later revoked because it was found that does not improve survival rates.

Bevacizumab

Recently, after an international, randomized clinical phase 3 trial, it was found that bevacizumab in combination with standard chemotherapy increases survival rate in patients with ovarian cancer. The study included 361 patients with ovarian cancer. Those receiving standard therapy and bevacizumab had a median time of progression free survival of 6.7 months while those treated only with standard therapy had a median time of progression free survival of 3.4 months. Lead study author Eric Pujada-Lauraine, a professor at Universite de Paris Descartes, noted that for the first time researchers were able to increase the duration of survival in patients with platinum resistant ovarian cancer.