summary: Abagovomab: an anti-idiotypic CA-125 targeted immunotherapeutic agent for ovarian cancer phase 111 MIMOSA trial

Abagovomab: an anti-idiotypic CA-125 targeted immunotherapeutic agent for ovarian cancer

Rachel N Grisham​‌¹, Jonathan Berek​‌², Jacobus Pfisterer​‌³ & Paul Sabbatini​‌^†1

Ovarian cancer remains the leading cause of death due to gynecologic malignancies. Most patients present with advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Although many have a good initial response to surgical debulking and platinum-based chemotherapy, relapse is common, with the eventual development of chemotherapy resistance. Innovative treatments are needed in the remission setting to prolong the disease-free interval or prevent recurrence. Abagovomab is a murine monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibody (molecular wieght: 165–175 kDa) that functionally imitates the tumor-associated antigen, CA-125. It has been shown to be well tolerated and to induce a sustained immune response in initial Phase I and II clinical trials. An ongoing, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, Phase III trial (MIMOSA) completed its double-blind period in December 2010 and will compare abagovomab maintenance therapy to placebo, which will definitively determine the efficacy of this immunotherapeutic approach in patients with ovarian cancer.