OCRFA Funded Study Determines the Importance of Tumor Antigen

(May 2, 2017) A study, published in Gynecologic Oncology, revealed the importance of tumor antigen NY-ESO-1 for ovarian cancer patients. This tumor antigen, although not normally found in healthy cells, is very prevalent in tumors such as epithelial ovarian cancers.

Over the course of the 14 year study, Roswell Park tested 1,000 ovarian cancer patients for the antigen, and found that those who expressed NY-ESO-1 had a shorter duration of progression free survival and overall survival. Of those 1,000 patients, 68 that had tested positive for the anitigen were enrolled in a cancer vaccine trial that targeted NY0ESO-1 specifically. When compared with patients with NY-ESO-1 that were not treated with the cancer vaccine trial, they had significantly better overall survival rates.

“We suggest that NY-ESO-1 be a high-priority target for future immunotherapy studies, give the high prevalence of NY-ESO-1 expression in ovarian cancer and the association of this tumor antigen with adverse clinical outcomes,” said OCRFA Scientific Advisory Committee member and former grantee Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD.