PARP and PD-L1 in Ovarian Cancer.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The expression of poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and T-cells markers (CD4/CD8/Treg ratio) in Serous Papillary Ovarian Cancer: a collaborative 5-year retrospective translational study in Ovarian Cancer.
IRAS ID
238161
Contact name
Chit Cheng Yeoh
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Tesaro Inc
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Ovarian cancer is the fifteenth most common cancer in the UK. Incidence of ovarian cancer in Portsmouth is approximately 110 cases per year, making it the 10th largest city with the number of ovarian cancer incidents in the UK.
PARP-inhibitors are the drugs currently used to treat ovarian cancer. PARP-inhibitors were first made and trialled in England among a large population of patients. Following the trials, PARP-inhibitors have been approved as the first line of treatment. Portsmouth has a large proportion of patients, who have participated in PARP-inhibitor trials. We are now seeing our long term ovarian cancer survivors, who have been through PARP-inhibitor treatment and are now are on immune drugs.
Cancer cells in the ovaries interact with the immune system to enable them to continue to exist and grow, by preventing the immune system from detecting and attacking them. A protein on the surface of the cells, called “Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)” is a receptor, which stops the immune cells from being able to destroy the tumour cells.
Immunotherapy drugs are used to block the PD-L1 immunosuppressive effects. Immunotherapy can help the body’s immune system to fight the tumour cells.
Hence, the sequence of treatment in ovarian cancer is of fundamental importance, as to study, which treatment agents to use first for the best response, whether to use anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy drugs or to prescribe the PARP-inhibitor therapy. With series that includes Serous Papillary Ovarian Cancer, and previously treated PARP-inhibitor patients (matched samples), we will screen ovarian cancer tumour samples for PD-L1 and its relationship with PARP-inhibitor exposure. This would enable us to collect preliminary results to test the hypothesis: if the exposure to immunotherapy should be the first line of treatment or the exposure to the PARP-inhibitor therapy for the ovarian cancer patients.REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0451
Date of REC Opinion
28 Sep 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion