Combination Therapy of Vaccine and Durvalumab in Advanced Ovarian Cancer
Posted: Monday, August 3, 2020
According to a study published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, combination therapy with the folate receptor alpha (FRα) vaccine TPIV200 and the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab may prove to be effective for patients with advanced ovarian cancer. According to Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues, “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 ovarian cancer biology post-treatment.”
The phase II trial enrolled 27 patients with recurrent ovarian carcinoma. Patients were treated on 28-day cycles with a flat dose of durvalumab on days 1 and 15 in cycles 1 to 12 and TPIV200 on day 1 in cycles 1 to 6.
TPIV200 was associated with mild adverse events, all grade 1 and related to the injection site. The majority of durvalumab-related adverse events consisted were grade 1 or 2, with a few grade 3 or 4 toxicities. One patient developed type 1 diabetes, and another developed immunomediated thrombocytopenia.
The researchers reported an overall survival median of 21 months, with a median follow-up of 29 months. The authors noted the 12-month overall survival rate was unexpectedly high at 66%, considering a low overall response to treatment. One patient achieved a partial response, and nine patients achieved disease stability. The median progression-free survival was 2.8 months, and the 6-month progression-free survival rate of 11.1%. All patients eventually experienced disease progression. The authors did report increased FRα-specific T-cell responses in all patients and clinical benefit from standard chemotherapy after immunotherapy.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit jitc.bmj.com.
