A team of oncology researchers including Dr. Christopher Haqq, Atara Biotherapeutics’ Chief Medical Officer, presented a poster at the June 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: “Effects of a soluble activin type 2B receptor Fc fusion protein (STM 217) in TOV-21G, a mouse xenograft model of clear cell ovarian cancer.” The study, led by John Lu, HQ Han and Haqq, demonstrated that inhibition of activin signaling by use of a ligand trap results in antitumor activity as a monotherapy, and that additive activity was observed in combination with chemotherapy. Increases in body weight were not impaired by concomitant administration of 5-FU chemotherapy. This study suggests that a phase 1 clinical trial of activin inhibition in metastatic ovarian cancer is warranted. (Abstract)