Thanks to the initiative and financial support of Ovacure, complemented with the scientific input of the Anticancer Fund, the team of Prof. Inge-Marie Svane from the Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Herlev Hospital at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark started developing an innovative treatment for women with recurrent ovarian cancer.

The treatment consists of collecting immune cells (T-cells) from the patient own's tumour, multiplying (expanding) them and reinjecting them in the same patient. This is known as adoptive T-cell transfer.

Having successfully produced clinic-grade T-cells from ovarian tumours, the researchers decided to test the safety, immunity and efficacy of adoptive T-cell transfer in 6 patients with metastatic ovarian cancers. To increase the chance that the injected T-cells would be active against the cancer, the adoptive T-cell transfer was preceded by standard lymphodepleting chemotherapy and followed by decrescendo intravenous interleukin-2 (IL-2). Overall, the treatment was well tolerated with manageable toxicities and the cancer remained stable for all 6 patients for 3 to 5 months. The study also helped the researchers to further improve the manufacturing of the T-cells for the next trial(s)

The results are presented in the publication Adoptive Cell Therapy With Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Patients With Metastatic Ovarian Cancer: A Pilot Study