Immunotherapy for ovarian cancer

Immunotherapy helps to strengthen or restore the immune system's ability to fight cancer. This works to kill cancer cells and stop cancer cells from growing and spreading.

Immunotherapy is rarely used to treat ovarian cancer. It’s also not typically given for fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer. These cancers start in the same type of tissue as most ovarian cancers and are staged and treated the same way. But they are much rarer cancers.

Researchers are continuing to look at how immunotherapy can be used to treat ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancers. You may have immunotherapy to treat advanced cancer that doesn't respond to other treatments or comes back (recurs) after treatment. If you have immunotherapy, your healthcare team will use what they know about the cancer and about your health to plan the drugs, doses and schedules.

The type of immunotherapy drugs used for ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer are called immune checkpoint inhibitors.

The immune system normally stops itself from attacking normal cells in the body by using specific proteins called checkpoints. Checkpoints slow down or stop an immune system response. Cells in the ovaries, fallopian tubes or peritoneum sometimes use these checkpoints to hide and avoid being attacked by the immune system. Immune checkpoint inhibitors work by blocking the checkpoint proteins so immune system cells (called T cells) attack and kill the cancer cells.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors may be offered if the cancer has certain genetic changes known as high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR).

If the cancer has either of these features, the following immune checkpoint inhibitors may be used:

• pembrolizumab (Keytruda)
• dostarlimab (Jemperli)

These immunotherapy drugs may not be covered by all provincial or territorial drug plans. Your doctor or healthcare team will discuss access to these drugs with you and about how you could benefit from this treatment.

Side effects of immunotherapy will depend mainly on the type of drug or drug combination, the dose, how it's given and your overall health. Tell your healthcare team if you have side effects that you think might be from immunotherapy. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.

Common side effects of immunotherapy for ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer include:

• flu-like symptoms, such as fever and chills

• fatigue

• skin problems, including redness, rash, itching and dryness

• diarrhea

• nausea and vomiting

Find out more about immunotherapy. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about immunotherapy.

Details on specific drugs change regularly. Find out more about sources of drug information and where to get details on specific drugs.