At the 27th European Congress on Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO26), held 26-28th February in Copenhagen, investigators answered some of the field’s most persistent questions: the optimal timing of surgery, chemotherapy scheduling, the promise of immunotherapy in platinum-resistant disease and how molecular profiling can sharpen surgical decision-making. And the results didn’t disappoint. Below are four of the most important abstracts from the Late-breaking, Best Oral and Best Three Minutes sessions: ENGOT-ov65/KEYNOTE-B96, RACC, ACR-368-201 and EUGENIE revealed insights that could shift the standard of care. Here’s what you need to know.
From the Best Oral and Late-breaking Abstracts session, the phase III ENGOT-ov65/KEYNOTE-B96 trial, randomized 643 participants with platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer 1:1 to receive pembrolizumab 400 mg every 6 weeks or placebo, each with weekly paclitaxel ± bevacizumab, until progression or unacceptable toxicity.1 At a median follow-up of 32.7 months, pembrolizumab–paclitaxel significantly improved overall survival (OS) versus placebo–paclitaxel: median OS 17.7 vs 14.0 months; HR 0.82; 95% CI 0.69–0.97; p=0.0115. Progression-free survival (PFS) benefits persisted in both ITT (HR 0.73 [95% CI 0.62–0.87]) and PD-L1 CPS ≥1 populations (HR 0.76 [95% CI 0.62–0.93]). Grade ≥3 adverse events occurred in 67.8% vs 55.3%. These results confirm clinically meaningful OS and PFS benefits with pembrolizumab. From the Best Oral and Late-breaking Abstracts session, the RACC randomized trial compared perioperative complications between robot-assisted laparoscopic and open radical hysterectomy in women with early-stage cervical cancer (FIGO 2009 IB–IIA1).2 Among 809 patients in the intraoperative safety cohort, complications occurred in 5.7% of robotic-assisted cases versus 10.0% of open surgery cases (risk difference −4.3 percentage points; 95% CI, −8.0 to −0.6; risk ratio 0.57; 95% CI, 0.35–0.93). Postoperative complications within 30 days were similar between groups (33.4% vs 34.5%; risk ratio 0.97; 95% CI, 0.80–1.17), including Clavien–Dindo grade III+ events. The study concludes that robotic-assisted surgery reduces intraoperative complications while maintaining comparable postoperative safety. From the Best Three Minutes and Late-breaking Abstracts session, the phase II ACR-368-201 trial evaluated ACR-368 in OncoSignature-positive endometrial cancer (EC) using a tumour-agnostic biomarker to predict response.3 In this open-label, multi-centre study, 96 relapsed EC patients (median age 66; median prior lines of therapy: 2) received either ACR-368 alone (BM+, n=36) or with ultra-low dose gemcitabine (BM-, n=60). Overall response rate (ORR) was 39% in BM+ patients and 44% in those with ≤2 prior therapies. Notably, BM+ serous EC achieved 67% ORR (52% across all serous EC), with median response duration >24 weeks. Treatment was well tolerated, supporting expansion to Arm 3 in biomarker-unselected serous EC. From the Best Three Minutes and Late-breaking Abstracts session, the EUGENIE study, a prospective multicentre trial across 14 European centers, investigated whether integrating molecular classification (MC) with comprehensive surgical assessment improves endometrial cancer (EC) risk stratification.4 Among 937 patients with complete data, MC identified 145 p53-abnormal (p53abn), 395 no specific molecular profile (NSMP), 303 mismatch repair-deficient (MMRd), and 94 POLE-mutated tumors. In 203 advanced-stage cases (FIGO III–IV), p53abn tumors most frequently showed omental and peritoneal metastases, NSMP and MMRd tumors had higher lymph-node involvement, and POLE-mutated tumors had no peritoneal/omental spread. MC independently predicted extra-uterine spread (p<0.001). Ten patients were upstaged based on occult metastases detected via protocol biopsies, highlighting MC’s surgical relevance. References Citation: ESGO26: Highlights and key take-home messages. touchONCOLOGY. 4th March, 2026. Disclosure: This article was created by the touchONCOLOGY team utilizing AI as an editorial tool (ChatGPT (GPT-4o) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat.) The content was developed and edited by human editors. No funding was received in the publication of this article. Editor: Sophie Nickelson (Editorial Director). Already registered? Login below.
– a phase 2 study – ACR-368-201/gog3082 (NCT05548296). Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2026:36(2):104573. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijgc.2026.104573
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