“If you have ovarian cancer, ask your oncologist to consider a test that will help determine whether your cancer is one of just under 50 per cent that might be responsive to new treatment options such as PARP inhibitors," says cancer researcher Professor Anna deFazio.
Professor deFazio from The Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) and the University of Sydney is the chief investigator in INOVATe. The project, funded by the Cancer Institute NSW and Cancer Council NSW, involves 13 Sydney hospitals, four research institutes, and the universities, all working to improve ovarian cancer treatment.
In January 2024, Homologous Recombination DNA Repair Deficiency (HRD) testing to guide PARP inhibitor treatment became more widely available following reimbursement in Australia for patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer with HRD.
PBS-listed PARP inhibitors for ovarian cancer include AstraZeneca's LYNPARZA (olaparib) and GSK's ZEJULA (niraparib).
Professor deFazio said wider access to genomics testing would contribute to the gradual improvement in treatment in recent years. "We hope these changes will translate into improved 5-year survival rates, which are currently too low, at less than 50 per cent,” she said.
“HRD testing has shown how rapidly results can progress from the research laboratory to becoming part of everyday care for patients. Now we can do more.
“One barrier to improving outcomes was that ovarian cancer had traditionally been treated as a single disease. We now understand that ovarian cancer is a complex, diverse disease comprising multiple distinct subtypes that vary considerably in their biological behaviour and response to standard treatments.”
Over the past eight years, over 800 women in New South Wales with ovarian cancer have agreed to provide samples for comprehensive genomic and molecular testing by the INOVATe Project.
“With Illumina’s support, we were able to better understand every individual cancer, and guide women to the best available clinical trial options,” continued Professor deFazio.
A HRD test picks up if ovarian cancer is HRD positive or negative.
“If you are positive then you have a reimbursed treatment option,” says Illumina’s Robert McBride, general manager of Intercontinental Illumina.
“Comprehensive genomic profile gives more information, it can tell you if you are HRD positive and also if your cancer might respond to other drugs. This could be useful for HRD negative patients.”
Professor deFazio continued, “The more you look at gene alterations that occur in ovarian cancer cells, the more you realise that every patient and every cancer is different. That’s why wider testing is so important, to get people who need additional treatment on the right trials faster.
“For parts of this research, we used Illumina’s comprehensive genomic profiling technology, which allowed us to test over 500 genes for mutations and look at HRD at the same time. This approach also has great potential for other cancer types including breast cancer and prostate cancer.
“Illumina has been fantastic. We could not have added this important aspect to INOVATe testing without them.”
