Scientists at the University of Oxford have been awarded funding from Cancer Research UK to produce a vaccine for ovarian cancer. Around 400 women are diagnosed with the disease every year in Ireland, and it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The experimental research will investigate the surface proteins of early-stage ovarian cancer to determine which are most strongly recognised by the immune system, and how effectively the vaccine kills ovarian cancer organoids. If the study is successful, work will then begin on clinical trials of the vaccine.
Lead investigator for the OvarianVax project and Director of the Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory Prof Ahmed Ahmed, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, UK, commented on the urgent need for “better strategies to prevent ovarian cancer” and acknowledged that “teaching the immune system to recognise the very early signs of cancer is a tough challenge”.
The project will build on previous research by Prof Ahmed and his team at the University of Oxford which found that immune cells from ovarian cancer patients ‘remember’ the tumour. Investigators will now attempt to ‘train’ the immune system to recognise over 100 tumour-associated antigens.
Prof Ahmed added: “Currently women with BRCA1/2 mutations, who are at very high risk, are offered surgery which prevents cancer, but robs them of the chance to have children afterwards. At the same time, many other cases of ovarian cancer aren’t picked up until they are in a much later stage….
“But we now have highly sophisticated tools which give us real insights into how the immune system recognises ovarian cancer. OvarianVax could offer the solution to prevent cancer, firstly in women at high risk, but also more widely if trials prove successful. Thanks to this funding, our research can take a big step forward towards a viable vaccine for ovarian cancer.”
