What the trial was testing
The trial enrolled 345 patients with ovarian cancer. The study was sponsored by Xiangyun Zong and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was a large trial designed to confirm whether the treatment works well enough for wider use. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
Only 10% of women who got the hormone shot had ovarian damage, versus 45% with chemo alone.
JAMA oncology · 2022 · NCT02518191
These findings — that monthly shots during chemo cut the risk of lasting ovarian harm by more than three-quarters — were published in the JAMA oncology and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 345 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with ovarian cancer, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
If you're facing chemotherapy for breast cancer and want to protect your ovaries, ask your oncologist about getting monthly hormone injections during treatment. This approach dramatically reduced ovarian damage in a large trial — especially helpful if you're hoping to preserve fertility or avoid early menopause. The injections are FDA-approved and didn't interfere with how well chemotherapy worked.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open ovarian cancer trials
A Study to Assess Adverse Events, Change in Disease Activity and How Intravenous (IV) ABBV901 Moves Through the Body Alone or in Combination With Other Anticancer Drugs in Adult Participants With Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer (OC) is a lethal disease. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of ABBV901, alone or in combination with other anticancer drugs, in participants with ovarian cancer. ABBV901 is an investigational drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer. This study has 6 parts where participants will receive ABBV-901, alone or in combination with other anticancer therapies. Around 285 participants will be enrolled in the study at approximately 45 sites around the world. In part 1, participants will receive escalating doses of intravenous (IV) ABBV-901 alone. In part 2, participants will receive 1 of 3 doses of IV ABBV-901 alone to determine the optimized dose. In part 3, participants will receive escalating doses of IV ABBV-901 in combination with IV bevacizumab. In part 4, participants will receive recommended doses for expansion of IV ABBV-901 combination with IV bevacizumab. in Part 5, participants will receive escalating doses of IV ABBV-901 in combination with IV carboplatin and IV bevacizumab and in part 6, participants will receive recommended doses for expansion of IV ABBV-901 combination with IV carboplatin and IV bevacizumab. The total study duration will be approximately 3 years. There may be higher treatment burden for participants in this trial compared to their standard of care. Participants will attend regular visits during the study at a hospital or clinic and may require frequent medical assessments, blood tests, and scans.
Strengthening Healthy Emotional Co-regulation of Mothers With PCOS and Obesity and Their Infants
It is both timely and important to invest in interventions that can improve healthy emotional co-regulation. It is proposed to evaluate the feasibility and limited efficacy of an adapted, brief, multimodal intervention: ECoFam (Emotional connection and Co-regulation for Families). Evidence from the US suggests intervention effects on maternal and infant outcomes that are large in effect size (i.e., Cohen's d \>0.6 for increasing emotional connection and decreasing maternal depressive symptoms) (21-23). The study results will directly translate evidence into practice and, if found feasible, allow rapid scaling-up. Objectives: 1. Build capacity for implementation of a novel diagnostic screening tool for emotional co-regulation, the uWECS, as part of clinical follow-up for mother-infant dyads with high fibrobesity risk in Finland. 2. Test the feasibility and limited efficacy of the brief, multimodal ECoFam intervention to foster healthy emotional co-regulation between mothers with PCOS and obesity and their infants.