ovarian cancer

Researchers have identified TEM1 as a specific genetic marker for the vascular cells associated with tumor growth, a finding that could aid in diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer.

Women with recurrent ovarian cancer can be helped by an experimental therapy using a drug already touted for its ability to fight other cancers, a finding that provides hope for improved treatment of this deadly disease.

In a discovery that may be useful for maintaining remission in chemo-resistant ovarian cancer, Yale scientists report that pre-clinical studies have shown the drug compound NV-128 can induce the death of ovarian cancer cells by halting the activation of a protein pathway called mTOR.

Researchers have identified, characterized and cloned ovarian cancer stem cells and have shown that these stem cells may be the source of ovarian cancer's recurrence and its resistance to chemotherapy.

Like most women with ovarian cancer, 44-year-old Christine Sable of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, did not discover she had the disease until it was in the advanced stages and had spread to other areas of the abdomen.

"I knew my chances of recurrence were very high--75 to 80 percent at that particular stage--and that the disease would likely recur within a year or two," she says.

"Once it recurs, it is difficult to cure."

A drug that blocks production of an enzyme that enables ovarian cancer to gain a foothold in a new site can slow the spread of the disease and prolong survival in mice, but only if the drug is given early in the disease process.

Recurrent low-grade serous carcinoma, a rare type of ovarian cancer, is less sensitive to chemotherapy and therefore more difficult to treat than more common high-grade ovarian cancers, according to researchers.

Two abstracts underscoring the importance of testing for BRCA1/2 mutations in women with ovarian cancer have recently been presented.

The majority of women with ovarian cancer are unaware BRCA testing is available.

The results of a study presented today at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology's 39th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer offer a promising development on the path toward better management of ovarian cancer.

Researchers say testing women suspected of having ovarian cancer for a combination of proteins, or biomarkers in the blood called HE4 and CA 125, could be the key to predicting a woman's risk for the disease dubbed the "silent killer." Currently there is no adequate diagnostic test for ovarian cancer.

Thalidomide, a drug blamed in the 1950s for causing birth defects, is now showing promise as a safe and effective treatment for women with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a new study.