- Research Article
1
- 10.1097/01.ogx.0000450118.02154.c8
A Prospective Study Evaluating the Clinical Relevance of a Chemoresponse Assay for Treatment of Patients With Persistent or Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
- May 01, 2014
- Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey
- Thomas Rutherford + 12 more +12
A large number of different clinically acceptable and equivalent regimens for treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer have been identified. There is insufficient evidence to indicate that any one drug or regimen used for retreatment is superior to any other. In vitro chemoresponse assays have been investigated for informing effective treatment selection for recurrent ovarian cancer. The value of these assays to yield useful clinical information has been a subject of considerable debate among oncologists because of lack of information from well-controlled prospective trials and conflicting data from retrospective trials. This prospective, multicenter, clinical trial evaluated the use of a chemoresponse assay to improve clinical outcomes in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Patients with persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer were enrolled at 35 sites across the United States under an institutional review board–approved protocol. Viable tumor tissue samples were collected for the chemoresponse assay. Patients received 1 of 15 protocol-designated treatments empirically chosen by oncologists blinded to the assay results. The in vitro response of each treatment was classified as sensitive (S), intermediate (I), or resistant (R). The primary study endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS); overall survival (OS) was the secondary endpoint. Associations of the in vitro response for each treatment with PFS and OS were analyzed. Between 2004 and 2011, a total of 262 eligible patients were enrolled. The patients treated with an assay-sensitive regimen had significantly improved PFS and OS compared with those treated with an assay-resistant regimen; there was no difference in these outcomes between the I and R groups. With univariate analysis, the median PFS was 8.8 months for S versus 5.9 months for I + R; the hazard ratio (HR) was 0.67, P = 0.009. Multivariate analysis showed that the association with the in vitro response was consistent within platinum-sensitive and platinum-resistant subpopulations (HR, 0.71 vs 0.66, respectively) and was independent of other covariates (P = 0.020). There was also a significant 14-month improvement in mean OS (37.5 months for S vs 23.9 months for I + R; HR, 0.61; P = 0.010). The findings of this prospective study show significant improvement in both PFS and OS among patients with either platinum-sensitive or platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer when they are treated with assay-sensitive agents. Improvements in PFS and OS were both greater than 50%. This study is the first prospective clinical trial of this design conducted.
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