A two-drug combination offers new hope for ovarian cancer

A combination of two experimental drugs has been shown to inhibit tumor growth in ovarian cancer and also block resistance to other drugs, according to a study conducted at Weill Cornell Medicine (USA). The research presents a promising strategy against this difficult-to-treat form of cancer and demonstrates a powerful new approach to identifying effective treatments for genetically diverse cancers.

Ovarian cancer can be caused by mutations in many different genes. This complicates the design of drugs targeting common mutations.

In the study, published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine , the researchers focused on activating growth signaling pathways specific to ovarian tumor cells. They thereby identified a novel combination therapy strategy that selectively targets ovarian tumor cells and reduces tumor growth in preclinical models .

"We believe this approach will be useful for identifying effective treatments for other cancers that don't have recurrent, treatable mutations," says the study's senior author, Benjamin Hopkins.

Despite representing only 3% of all female tumors, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. It is estimated that by 2025, nearly 4,000 women will be diagnosed with this disease in Spain. The standard treatment for ovarian cancer is surgery to remove the ovaries followed by chemotherapy , but recurrence is common, and the five-year survival rate is only around 50%. Hence the need for new, more effective treatments.

Researchers studied ovarian tumors and observed that many mutations activate a growth pathway called MAPK. They tested several drugs and found that the drug rigosertib worked well against this type of cancer . However, they also noticed that using it activated another pathway (PI3K/mTOR), which can cause treatment resistance. Therefore, they combined it with another drug that blocks that second pathway. This combination was more effective than using rigosertib alone or conventional chemotherapy.

Hopkins hopes these results will generate interest among drug developers, potentially including compounds similar to rigosertib but more potent.