PracticeUpdate Oncology May 2019

CONFERENCE COVERAGE 26

Society of Gynecologic Oncology 50th Annual Meeting onWomen’s Cancer ® MARCH 16–19, 2019 • HONOLULU, HAWAII By the PracticeUpdate Editorial Team Dendritic Cell-Based Immunotherapy Appears Promising for Recurrent Ovarian Cancer The treatment offers long-lasting antitumor immunity. T he addition of a dendritic cell immu- notherapy to chemotherapy has been found to prolong overall sur- half of whom received chemotherapy + immunotherapy, and half who received chemotherapy alone. second chemotherapy cycle, patients in the dendritic cell immunotherapy group received five induction doses of the treatment every 3 weeks, and five maintenance doses after- ward every 6 weeks.

© 2019 Society of Gynecologic Oncology

vival significantly in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. The combination of chemo- therapy + immunotherapy corresponded to 73% survival after 2 years vs 41% with chemotherapy alone, reports a randomized phase II trial. David Cibula, MD, PhD, of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Gen- eral University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic, explained that prolonging overall survival and maintaining quality of life dur- ing treatment are important objectives. This immunotherapy has almost no toxicity, which increases patient tolerability, and is a major advantage of this treatment. Few alternatives with such promising results are currently in clinical development. Dr. Cibula and colleagues set out to compare overall survival of 64 women,

The primary endpoint was progression-free survival. The main secondary endpoint was overall survival. Final data cut-off was planned when approximately 32 overall sur- vival events had occurred (50% maturity). Between 2013 and 2015, 71 patients were randomized from 15 centers in Europe (dendritic cell immunotherapy, n=39; chemotherapy, n=32). Median age was 58.5 years in the dendritic cell immu- notherapy group and 60.5 years in the chemotherapy group. Other baseline char- acteristics were comparable. After patients who failed leukapheresis were excluded, the intention-to-treat population included 32 patients in each arm. After a median follow-up duration of 36.6 months, 36 patients had died. No signifi- cant difference was observed in median

Eligible women suffered from serous, endo- metrioid, or mucinous ovarian carcinoma and scored 0–2 in Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status. They achieved a complete response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, which lasted >6 months, and at least one measurable lesion per Response Evalua- tion Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1. They were randomized to dendritic cell immunotherapy concomitantly with chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. Stratification was based on receipt of bevacizumab (yes or no) and duration of remission (6–12 or >12 months). A combination of carboplatin + gemcit- abine was administered as standard-of-care chemotherapy for 6 to 10 cycles. From the

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