Dr. Moore on BCMA-Mutation Testing in Ovarian Cancer

Kathleen Moore, MD, director, Oklahoma TSET Phase I Clinical Trials Program, associate director, Clinical Research, medical director, the Clinical Trials Office, associate professor, Section of Gynecologic Oncology, Jim and Christy Everest Endowed chair, Cancer Research, director, the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship Program, Stephenson Cancer Center, discusses current standard of care in treating ovarian cancer.

The requirement for testing or offering testing for germline, somatic BRCA mutations, and other high-penetrance genes, has emerged as part of the standard of care in ovarian cancer, Moore says. This testing assists in identifying familial risk to prevent cancer in unaffected family members, along with stratifying patients for prognosis and maintenance therapy with PARP inhibitors, Moore explains. However, some patients may decline that testing when offered, Moore adds.

Moreover, patients can utilize tumor testing for homologous recombination deficiency, Moore continues. Two tests are currently FDA-approved, and others are in development, Moore adds. These tests seek to identify tumors that have an inherent vulnerability to their ability to repair double-stranded DNA breaks, which make them susceptible to platinum-based chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors, Moore concludes.