Ovarian Cancer
Over 230,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year worldwide, including approximately 22,000 women in the United States. Unfortunately, the majority of these women ultimately die from this disease: ovarian cancer is responsible for an estimated 140,000 deaths per year worldwide, including over 15,000 deaths per year in the United States.
The goal of the ovarian research program is to develop a strategy to accurately identify ovarian cancers that would otherwise be lethal at a stage when they are readily curable. Our vision is of a two-stage screening strategy, consisting of a simple blood test followed by a molecular imaging test. Development of blood and imaging tests follows a similar roadmap; both include biomarker discovery followed by validation, but they also involve different techniques and challenges.
One of the challenging aspects of building a test for early detection of ovarian cancer is understanding the earliest stages of ovarian cancer growth. Two key characteristics of ovarian cancer growth influence the development of an early detection test; the size at which a tumor progresses from early stage, treatable disease to incurable disease and the amount of time the tumor spends as early stage, treatable disease, i.e. the window of opportunity for early detection. Canary research supported two modeling efforts to help address these critical pieces of knowledge. The first comprised an analysis of tumors found in fallopian tubes and ovaries removed from healthy women at high risk for ovarian cancer. By comparing the size and stage of these previously undetected tumors with tumors from women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the researchers were able to model both the size of early stage tumors and the length of time tumors spend in early stage before progressing. The second effort modeled the mortality reduction and cost-effectiveness achievable by currently available screening tests using data on the natural history of ovarian cancer, survival after ovarian cancer diagnosis and blood biomarker levels from clinical trials.
Progress & Results
- Completed two modeling efforts addressing the potential effectiveness of ovarian cancer screening
- Ovarian cancer screening trial for high risk women that employs a new blood biomarker is underway, expected enrollment of 1,200 women
- Funding received for a clinical trial of targeted microbubble molecular imaging in ovarian cancer patients
→ Meet the Ovarian Cancer Research Team
→ Learn more about Ovarian Cancer Clinical Studies
