Gene expression patterns indicate which ovarian cancer patients will benefit from targeted therapy

Ovarian cancer is often detected at a late stage and is rarely curable. Many patients therefore receive the drug bevacizumab in addition to chemotherapy, as it blocks the tumour’s blood supply – yet it does not help everyone, and it can sometimes cause serious side effects. A research team at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, led by Prof. Dr Barbara Schmalfeldt and Prof. Dr Leticia Oliveira-Ferrer in collaboration with bioinformatician Dr Olga Zolotareva (University of Kiel), has now succeeded in identifying a characteristic pattern of activity in the tumour that indicates who actually benefits from bevacizumab: patients with this pattern lived significantly longer when they received the drug. Surprisingly, the drug showed no discernible benefit in patients without this pattern. The Wilhelm Sander Foundation funded the project with 170,000 euros.