Helen MacKay, MD, Clinical Accelerator Investigator

Dr. Helen Mackay is the head of the Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Odette Cancer Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. She is one of two study chairs for the clinical trial “An Immunotherapy Platform Study in Platinum Resistant High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer” (NCT04918186).

Ovarian cancer impacts 300,000 women globally each year, with 180,000 resulting deaths, making ovarian cancer the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer. The United States saw 22,000 cases and 14,000 deaths in 2018 alone. Ovarian cancer can progress significantly before a patient is diagnosed as early symptoms can be easily confused with less life-threatening digestive issues. As such, only 20% of ovarian cancers are detected before they metastasize.

This platform trial studies the safety and effectiveness of a PD-L1 checkpoint immunotherapy plus other agents including targeted antibodies. These antibody-drug conjugates are designed to penetrate into tumors where they can target cancer cells and deliver their chemotherapy payload to eliminate them, and are being investigated for their ability to enhance checkpoint immunotherapy and improve patient outcomes.  

Additional investigators working on this trial include:

• Amit Oza, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
• Anna Tinker, MD, Vancouver Cancer Centre (Study chair)
• Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Hal Hirte, MD, Juravinski Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences
• Josee-Lyne Ethier, MD, Kingston Health Sciences Centre
• Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Oladapo Yeku, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos, MD, PhD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
• Prafull Ghatage, MD, Tom Baker Cancer Centre

Projects and Grants

An Immunotherapy Platform Study in Platinum-Resistant High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer

Odette Cancer Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre | Ovarian Cancer | 2019