PARP inhibitors as maintenance therapy in newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis

PARP inhibitors as maintenance therapy in newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis

Background: Up to 70% of patients with advanced ovarian cancer have a relapse after primary therapy. New agents and approaches are urgently needed to avoid or slow down this recurrence.

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of PARP inhibitors (PARPis) as maintenance treatment in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.

Search strategy: PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases.

Selection criteria: All randomised clinical trials (RCTs) that compared PARPis with placebo as first-line maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer.

Data collection and analysis: Two reviewers extracted data. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) and risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated.

Main results: PARPis were associated with significant improvement of progression-free survival (PFS) in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (AeOC) (HR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.40-0.71; P < 0.0001). The benefit was not only in women with BRCA mutations (HR = 0.35, 95% CI 0.29-0.42; P < 0.00001) and homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) (HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.32-0.60; P < 0.00001), but also in those with nonmutated BRCA (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.63-0.82; P < 0.00001) and even non-HRD (HR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70-0.99; P = 0.04).

Conclusions: PARP inhibitors are effective as maintenance therapy among patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer after platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of BRCA mutation or HRD status.

Tweetable abstract: PARPis provide a significant PFS benefit as first-line maintenance therapy in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.


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