Bridgette Wilson-Sampras' Journey With Ovarian Cancer
- Pete Sampras’ wife, actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2022 and has undergone surgery, chemotherapy and targeted maintenance therapy.
- Since her diagnosis, several new ovarian cancer treatments have emerged, including biomarker-driven options targeting FRα and KRAS, as well as newer immunotherapy and combination treatments.
- Her journey highlights the growing importance of biomarker and genetic testing to help doctors match ovarian cancer patients with treatments based on the unique characteristics of their tumors.
- If you’ve been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and are looking for ways to better understand your disease and treatment options, you can turn to SurvivorNet’s proprietary AI tool, “My Health Questions,” which helps patients and caregivers navigate a new diagnosis and prepare thoughtful, personalized questions for their care team.
Wilson-Sampras’ career includes a run as a Teen USA pageant winner in the early 1990s, followed by an acting career that included the soap opera “Santa Barbara,” “Last Action Hero,” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” She became a mom in the early 2000s, and roughly two decades later, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Read MoreHer story is a reminder of the power of new treatments and biomarker testing. Here’s how biomarker-driven options have expanded in just the past few years:
- Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine) — approved 2022, full approval 2024. The first antibody-drug conjugate for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, targeting tumors that overexpress folate receptor alpha (FRα). In trials, patients were nearly three times as likely to see tumors shrink versus chemotherapy alone. [A Comprehensive Guide to an Advanced Form of Ovarian Cancer Known as ‘Folate Receptor-Alpha Positive’]
- Avutometinib plus defactinib — approved 2025. For low-grade serous ovarian cancer with a KRAS mutation, showing a 44% response rate in a subtype with few prior options.
- Relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel — approved March 2026. No biomarker testing required, offering an option for platinum-resistant patients regardless of tumor profile.
- Keytruda (pembrolizumab) — approved February 2026. The first PD-1 inhibitor for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, approved for PD-L1-positive tumors. Extended median overall survival to 18.2 months versus 14.0 with placebo.
Together, these approvals point to a broader shift: experts now recommend biomarker testing — for FRα, PD-L1, KRAS, and BRCA/HRD status — for every ovarian cancer patient, since the right treatment depends on the tumor’s molecular profile, not just where it started.
A few key biomarkers now shape how ovarian cancer is treated:
- BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations — among the most important genetic markers, since patients carrying these mutations tend to respond especially well to platinum-based chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors [An effective treatment option for most women with ovarian cancer. The drugs work by preventing ovarian cancer cells from repairing damaged DNA]
- CA-125 — a blood protein that doctors use less for initial diagnosis and more to track how well treatment is working and watch for signs of recurrence during remission.
- HRD (homologous recombination deficiency) — a measure of how well a tumor’s cells can repair damaged DNA; tumors that struggle to repair themselves tend to respond better to PARP inhibitors and maintenance therapy. [PARP Inhibitors Quick Guide — Understanding The Different Drugs & Who May Benefit]
- Folate receptor-alpha (FRα) — a protein on the surface of some tumor cells that serves as the target for antibody-drug conjugates like Elahere in platinum-resistant cases.
What is Folate Receptor-Alpha Positive Cancer?
Identifying which of these markers a patient’s tumor carries lets oncologists move beyond standard chemotherapy toward treatment matched to how that specific tumor behaves — including eligibility for clinical trials, maintenance therapies, and newer precision drugs.
For ovarian cancer specifically, that pipeline is unusually active right now — hundreds of trials are currently recruiting patients worldwide, testing everything from next-generation antibody-drug conjugates to new PARP inhibitor combinations and immunotherapy pairings, giving patients whose standard treatments have stopped working a growing number of paths forward.
That shift reflects a bigger change across cancer care as a whole. Biomarker testing — identifying specific genetic, molecular, or protein markers linked to cancer growth — has rapidly become a cornerstone of modern oncology, letting doctors tailor treatment to each patient’s tumor instead of defaulting to standard chemotherapy or radiation for everyone with the same diagnosis.
Dr. David Hyman, Chief Medical Officer at Eli Lilly and Company, told SurvivorNet that expanding access to this testing is critical: “It’s not enough to know sometimes that they have lung cancer or breast cancer. We need to know exactly what makes that cancer tick. That involves what we call biomarker testing, which is an analysis of the cancer to understand what its specific drivers are.”
Cancer centers worldwide are continually adopting new testing methods to detect emerging markers — actionable mutations, gene fusions, or protein levels that predict response to immunotherapy — expanding treatment options and paving the way for future breakthroughs.
New Treatments for Ovarian Cancer Are Changing the Game And Doctors Are Moving Fast
Understanding Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer often begins in the fallopian tubes, where abnormal cells can migrate to the ovaries and form tumors. Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist at UCLA Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet, “There are different kinds of ovarian cancer that affect women at different stages of life. The most common type of ovarian cancer, however, typically occurs around the time of the menopause.”
It’s important to note that there is no screening test for ovarian cancer, but doctors say it is important for women to be aware of symptoms which can indicate something is wrong.
The signs of ovarian cancer can include:
- Feeling bloated or full
- Pain in the pelvis or abdomen
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Changes in bowel habits
“We don’t have a good screening method, but if you have symptoms, it’s very important that you go to your physician because there might be an opportunity that we can detect it when it’s still early stage,” Dr. Jose Alejandro Rauh-Hain, a gynecologic oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
“It’s very important that patients are not afraid to ask questions to their physicians. Because the sooner we can diagnose the cancer, the better that prognosis.”
Ovarian Cancer: What Are The Symptoms And Warning Signs?
It’s also important to note that ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. In fact, it has been called “the sleeping lion,” Dr. Kimberly Resnick, gynecologic oncologist at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio, previously told SurvivorNet. “It’s hard, because 75% of women who walk into our office with ovarian cancer, unfortunately, are going to walk in with advanced stage disease.”
RELATED: Ovarian Cancer Symptoms Can Be Hard to Spot
Unlike some other types of cancer, such as breast cancer and colon cancer, there aren’t any routine screening tests for ovarian cancer. At the present time, there are no simple and reliable methods available that can screen for ovarian cancer in women who do not have any signs or symptoms. “We don’t have an inexpensive, easily reproducible test that we can use to prevent this disease,” says Dr. Resnick.
In fact, if a woman doesn’t have any symptoms and is not at high risk for a hereditary ovarian cancer syndrome, current recommendations say that she should not get screened. This is an across the board consensus from major medical groups and public health organizations such as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Cancer Society.
Screening of women who are at an average risk for the disease may do more harm than good, as it can lead to more testing or even unnecessary surgery. However, it is recommended that women who are at a high risk for ovarian cancer due to an inherited genetic syndrome consider getting screened.
There are tests that doctors use when they suspect a patient might have ovarian cancer, and for those who have a genetic predisposition to this cancer. These include the transvaginal ultrasound, which is an ultrasound of the female genital organs that is done internally, and a blood test called CA-125, which tests for a marker that is elevated in women with ovarian cancer. However, these are not true screening tests for ovarian cancer.
“These are tests we may use in a patient in whom we have a high suspicion of cancer, or in patients who have a genetic predisposition to the disease,” said Dr. Resnick. “But these are not screening tests to use in everyday women who walk into the office with abdominal cramps.”
The standard of care for ovarian cancer patients is chemotherapy, which helps many patients reach remission.
WATCH: How your ovarian cancer responds to certain types of chemotherapies guides your future treatments.
With recurrence a strong possibility for this disease, especially in the later stages of ovarian cancer, certain drug treatments to deal with it are giving many women hope.
Maintenance therapy is continued treatment after the patient finishes their initial treatment. After an ovarian cancer patient completes a round of treatments — such as surgery and chemotherapy — her doctor may recommend some form of maintenance therapy to try and delay possible recurrence. Maintenance therapy can involve taking an oral pill called a PARP inhibitor every day after chemotherapy and can keep cancer in remission longer.
Genetic testing also helps doctors determine the best maintenance therapy. Genetic testing—analyzing a patient’s DNA or biopsy tissue—can reveal critical insights about cancer: how it forms, how it behaves, and how best to treat it.
“There are certain cancer-causing genes that can be passed down from generation to generation,” said Dr. Derrick Haslem, the director of medical oncology at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, in an earlier interview with SurvivorNet.
As researchers uncover more about these inherited mutations, they’re not only pinpointing who might be most at risk—they’re also refining how cancers are detected and treated.
When it comes to ovarian cancer, this information is especially vital.
WATCH: What genetic testing reveals about your cancer?
“There are a lot of mutations that put people at a higher risk for ovarian cancer,” says Dr. Haslem. That’s why your medical team asks about your family history—because genetic red flags can run in families. “If you have a family history of ovarian cancer or breast cancer, that’s a really important thing to bring up with your healthcare provider.”
WATCH: Clinical trials can be life-saving.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you’ve been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and are looking for ways to better understand your disease and treatment options, here are some key questions to bring to your doctor.
You can also turn to SurvivorNet’s proprietary AI tool, “My Health Questions,” which helps patients and caregivers navigate a new diagnosis and prepare thoughtful, personalized questions for their care team.
- What type of ovarian cancer do I have?
- What stage is my cancer in?
- Do you recommend I get genetic testing for any gene mutations, such as the BRCA gene mutation?
- What initial treatment options do you recommend?
- What are the possible side effects of the recommended treatment, and how can they be coped with?
- Will insurance help cover my recommended treatment?
WATCH: A New Wave of Cancer Patients Using SurvivorNet’s My Health AI Tools For Support
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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