British scientists begin developing vaccine that could prevent ovarian cancer
getty
A UK lab has received funding to develop the world’s first ovarian cancer vaccine. More than 12,000 women die from ovarian cancer each year in the U.S., and ovarian cancer is a fairly slow disease because bloating and loss of appetite are two common symptoms that overlap with many other less serious diseases. It is often diagnosed in stages. Although treatments have improved over the past few decades, ovarian cancer remains extremely difficult to treat, with only about 50% of women surviving more than 5 years after diagnosis.
The vaccine development project, funded by Cancer Research UK, will initially focus on women with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Although most commonly associated with a significantly increased risk of developing breast cancer, carriers of BRCA gene mutations also have an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. The lifetime risk of ovarian cancer for women in the general population is approximately 2%, but for those with a BRCA gene mutation, the lifetime risk is up to 45%.
“We need better strategies to prevent ovarian cancer,” said Professor Ahmed Ahmed, director of the Ovarian Cancer Cell Research Institute at the University of Oxford and leader of the OvarianVax project. “Women with BRCA1/2 mutations who are at very high risk are offered surgery to prevent cancer, but are then denied the opportunity to have children,” Professor Ahmed said.
Currently, women with BRCA gene mutations are recommended to have their ovaries removed by their mid-30s, resulting in early menopause.
Proposed vaccines are already available that protect against cervical cancer by building immunity against several strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause cervical cancer, as well as mouth, throat and cervical cancer. The effect is significantly different from that of cancer prevention vaccines. Rectal cancer and head and neck cancer.
Ovarian cancer, like many other types of cancer, is caused by the accumulation of defects in a cell’s DNA, which eventually turns into cancer. In people with BRCA mutations, this damage builds up much faster than in people without BRCA mutations, greatly increasing the risk of ovarian cancer.
Researchers will use ovarian cancer samples provided by ovarian cancer patients to look for common mutations that result in abnormal proteins recognized by the immune system. Researchers plan to use this information to create a vaccine that stimulates the immune system to detect these abnormal proteins.
“Educating the immune system to recognize the very early signs of cancer is a difficult challenge. However, we currently have no real understanding of how the immune system recognizes ovarian cancer. We have very sophisticated tools that give us insight,” Professor Ahmed said.
If OvarianVax is successful, it could train the immune system to attack abnormal ovarian cells when they develop without the person even knowing they are abnormal.
“OvarianVax has the potential to offer a solution to prevent cancer, first for high-risk women and, if trials are successful, more broadly,” Professor Ahmed said.
Even if a vaccine is successfully developed, it will likely take several years to be approved, as it must go through several stages of clinical trials before it can be approved for use.
