Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at advanced stages because early symptoms are vague and no reliable screening test exists. Treatment typically involves surgery and chemotherapy, and while many people respond well at first, the cancer often returns. Researchers are working on targeted drugs, immunotherapies, and ways to catch the disease earlier.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing PARP inhibitors for maintenance therapy after chemotherapy, immunotherapy combinations to help the immune system fight the cancer, antibody-drug conjugates that deliver chemotherapy directly to tumor cells, and new targeted drugs for specific mutations. Researchers are also studying ways to detect ovarian cancer earlier through blood tests and imaging.
PARP inhibitors
These pills block a repair system that cancer cells use to survive. Olaparib, niraparib, and rucaparib are FDA-approved for certain types of ovarian cancer, and trials are testing them in new combinations and earlier in treatment.
Antibody-drug conjugates
These drugs attach chemotherapy to an antibody that seeks out cancer cells, delivering treatment more precisely. Mirvetuximab soravtansine was FDA-approved in 2022 for certain ovarian cancers with folate receptor alpha.
Immunotherapy combinations
Ovarian cancer doesn't respond well to immunotherapy alone, so trials are testing checkpoint inhibitors combined with chemotherapy, PARP inhibitors, or drugs that change the tumor environment to make it more vulnerable.
What to know before you search
Eligibility often depends on cancer stage, prior treatments, whether the cancer is platinum-sensitive or resistant, and biomarker testing such as BRCA or HRD status.
What types of trials are currently open
- Maintenance therapy trials — Testing drugs taken after chemotherapy to delay or prevent the cancer from returning. Many involve PARP inhibitors or other targeted pills.
- Combination therapy trials — Testing new drugs added to standard chemotherapy, or combinations of targeted drugs, to see if they work better together.
- Recurrent disease trials — Testing treatments for ovarian cancer that has returned after prior therapy, often focusing on platinum-resistant disease.
- Biomarker-selected trials — Testing drugs for people whose tumors have specific mutations or features, such as BRCA mutations or high homologous recombination deficiency.
- Early detection studies — Testing blood tests, imaging, or combinations of both to find ovarian cancer earlier, when treatment is more likely to work.
Recently added Ovarian Cancer trials
Donate a cervical sample to help detect ovarian cancer early
High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is the deadliest gynaecological tumour. The 5-year overall survival rate for advanced-stage disease is less than 30 per cent, due to diagnosis at an advanced stage. There is currently no validated screening test for ovarian cancer. According to the literature, the current hypothesis is that HGSOCs develop primarily from the distal part of the fallopian tube, which is anatomically close to the lower genital tract. Tumour cells have even been observed in cervical smears. Studies suggest that early diagnosis of HGSOC is possible non-invasively by detecting pathogenic variants of the TP53 gene in DNA extracted from cervical smears. Studies suggest that early diagnosis of HGSOC is possible using non-invasive methods by detecting pathogenic variants in the TP53 gene in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from cervical smears. In 2023, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of DNA extracted from cervical smears to detect genomic instability successfully identified the presence of high-grade serous ovarian cancer up to nine years before diagnosis. This study demonstrates the feasibility of early diagnosis of ovarian cancer using genomic instability analysis via Shallow-coverage whole-genome sequencing (sWGS) on DNA obtained from cervical smears. This study aim to confirm the feasibility of diagnosing high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma by analysing genomic instability via sWGS on DNA extracted from liquid-based cervical smears, using a homogeneous series of samples from patients treated at the Toulouse University Cancer Institute-Oncopole (IUCT-Oncopole).
Take a new immune-boosting treatment with chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer
Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy, and most patients eventually relapse and develop resistance to available therapies. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown limited overall efficacy in recurrent ovarian cancer, partly because of its immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Manganese (Mn2+) can activate the cGAS-STING pathway and may enhance antitumor immunity and the therapeutic effects of PD-1 blockade combined with chemotherapy. Following encouraging findings from an early-phase study, a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial showed that the addition of manganese chloride to anti-PD-1 antibody, nab-paclitaxel, and cisplatin improved clinical outcomes compared with placebo, with an overall manageable safety profile. Based on these findings, this phase III trial is designed to confirm the efficacy and further evaluate the safety of Mn2+-primed immunochemotherapy in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.
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