Impact of Humoral and Cellular Immunity on Ovarian Cancer Outcomes

Abstract

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. Currently, surgery plus platinum-based chemotherapy is the standard treatment. However, individual response to therapy is highly variable and unpredictable: some women experience progression-free survival (PFS) of years while others progress during treatment or shortly thereafter. Eventually, most women develop and succumb to platinum-resistant disease. While there have been attempts to improve outcomes using immunotherapies, their success to date has been limited. Current trials now focus on chemo-immunotherapy combinations, acknowledging that platinum-based therapies remain an important part of treatment. However, no methods exist to identify who will respond to or fail treatments. Moreover, there are no clinically-validated interventions to improve treatment response or outcomes. This project aims to determine whether circulating anti-tumor antibodies (AAbs) may serve as these biomarkers. We propose the first-ever population-based study of the association between antibody-mediated, humoral immune responses to tumor antigens, the tumor microenvironment immune phenotype, and EOC outcome. Using banked biospecimens and data on women newly diagnosed with EOC, we will assess the relationship between anti-tumor antibodies and both therapy response and survival (Aim 1) and the antibodies relationship to the immune response in tumors (Aim 2). We will then use this information to build statistical models to predict which women will and will not respond well to therapy (Aim 3).

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2023
Accession Number
AD1226255

Entities

People

  • Francesmary Modugno

Organizations

  • University of Pittsburgh

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Medicine

Readers

  • Immunology
  • Oncology (Cancer Research).

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Biotechnology - Cancer Biotech