UNLOCKING THE POWER OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM: UNCOVERING THE IMMUNOGENIC EFFECT OF CHEMOTHERAPY

• Major research study funded by Target Ovarian Cancer at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge shows a high degree of variability in the cell-environment that surrounds different tumours, within the same patient and the same tumour, confirming that neoadjuvant chemotherapy can increase the level of specific immune cells in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).
• The findings of chemotherapy-induced immune cell expansion provides an exciting opportunity for new treatment strategies that could combine chemotherapy and immunotherapy for women with ovarian cancer.

[4 June 2020, London, UK] New research, published this week in Nature Genetics, uncovers the potential benefit of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to increase the level of specific immune cells in and around tumour sites of people with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).¹ The study investigated how chemotherapy affects immune cells that are present in and around ovarian tumours.

Overall, these results are very important as they reveal why ovarian tumours that appear similar respond differently to the same treatment. These findings open up new avenues of research to improve current treatments and explore new ones. Furthermore, the findings suggest that by combining immunotherapy with chemotherapy, which activates the body’s immune cells surrounding the tumour, we may be able to improve patients’ response to treatment in a disease that so far remains largely incurable at late stages.

HGSOC is a common form of epithelial ovarian cancer, accounting for over six of every 10 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer in the UK.² The majority of HGSOC cases are usually treated with a combination of chemotherapy and surgery, targeting cancerous cells that make up the tumour.² While the disease initially responds to treatment, and the recent introduction of PARP inhibitors has been highly beneficial, HGSOC has a high recurrence rate in patients.

In the study, multiple tumour samples were collected from 50 HGSOC patients. To understand the role that the patients’ immune system might play in fighting the tumour, the team looked at the types of immune cells that were present before and after chemotherapy.¹

Research showed a high degree of variability in the types of cells surrounding ovarian tumours and that this environment contained many different cell types, both within patients and within tumours. This diversity can pose potential barriers for developing effective immunotherapies.¹ In patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, results of the study demonstrated that there was an increase in the level of specific immune cells (natural killer cells and T cells) in and around the tumours. These cells could play an important role in targeting and removing the tumour.  The study results also found that high levels of activity mediated by two genes – called Myc and Wnt genes – and their effector pathways were associated with low levels of immune cells getting into the tumour.¹

These findings provide tangible options to explore in future research, where treatments that target these pathways could be introduced alongside chemotherapy to elicit a much stronger, tailored and more effective response against the tumour. This approach is highly innovative - not only does it target the tumour directly, but it engages the help of immune cells in the surrounding tissue to remove the tumour cells. 

Research lead, Dr Martin Miller at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, said: “The complex interplay between tumour cells and their immediate environment can affect treatment outcomes for cancer. However it is unclear how this occurs in ovarian cancer as, until now, very little research has been done into this. The results of this study confirm that neoadjuvant chemotherapy provides an important effect of increasing the level of specific immune cells in HGSOC and brings us closer to understanding how the environment varies around the tumours in HGSOC within a patient and even within a single tumour. Despite high rates of response to initial treatment, HGSOC has a high recurrence rate and immunotherapy has yet to deliver the success seen in other cancer types. These findings open up exciting opportunities for new combination therapies to be further investigated, which could improve clinical outcomes for women with HGSOC.” 

Cancer survival has doubled in the last 40 years, but progress in this area is not equal across all types of the disease, and HGSOC still has a poor five-year survival rate with limited improvement in the past decade.³

Annwen Jones OBE, Chief Executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said: “This groundbreaking research is a crucial step forward in understanding the potential for developing new treatments for women with ovarian cancer by harnessing the power of immunotherapy. I’m very proud that Target Ovarian Cancer is playing a pioneering role in funding research in this area. These promising early findings underline the opportunities that we now have to transform the future through research, and give us all hope of finding much-needed new ovarian cancer treatments.”

Target Ovarian Cancer is the UK’s leading ovarian cancer charity, working to raise awareness, fund research and save lives. Visit targetovariancancer.org.uk

For further information and interview requests please contact the press office at Target Ovarian Cancer on 020 7923 5476 or press.office@targetovariancancer.org.uk

Target Ovarian Cancer is the UK’s leading ovarian cancer charity. We work to improve early diagnosis, fund life-saving research and provide much-needed support to women with ovarian cancer. www.targetovariancancer.org.uk

Twitter: @TargetOvarian | Facebook: TargetOvarianCancer | YouTube: TargetOvarianCancer

References

1. Nature Genetics. Unraveling Tumor-Immune Heterogeneity in Advanced Ovarian Cancer Uncovers Immunogenic Effect of Chemotherapy. Available: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-020-0630-5 Accessed June 2020
2. Target Ovarian Cancer. Epithelial ovarian cancers. Available: https://www.targetovariancancer.org.uk/information-and-support/what-ovarian-cancer/types-ovarian-cancer/epithelial-ovarian-cancers Accessed June 2020
3. Cancer Research UK. Cancer Survival Statistics. Available: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/ovarian-cancer Accessed June 2020