Vaccine to be developed to prevent Ovarian Cancer

University of Oxford has received funding to develop a vaccine that could prevent ovarian cancer

With 11 deaths every day in the UK, Ovarian cancer is the 6^th most common cancer. Named OvarianVax, it is hoped the vaccine will teach the immune system to recognise and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer.

Cancer Research UK is funding the study with up to £600,000 over the next three years. If all goes well and trials are successful it could mean potentially a vaccine could be made to prevent ovarian cancer in the first place in a similar way to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine which is on track to prevent cervical cancer.

The trial will build on foundations from previous research that showed immune cells in ovarian cancer patients can “remember” the tumour.

Researchers will look to recreate early-stage ovarian cancer using tissue samples from ovarian cancer patients, and by looking at over 100 different proteins on the surface of ovarian cancer, known as tumour-associated antigens, find out which of these tumour-associated antigens will trigger the immune system to recognise and kill cells which are becoming ovarian cancer.

In the meantime, early detection is still the best way to tackle the disease.

You can get a CA125 blood test that can detect the CA 125 protein which is often found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells and in some normal tissues. Higher levels are normally found in cases of ovarian cancer. Higher levels could also be a sign of other conditions such as endometriosis, fibroids and even pregnancy.

New research on the CA 125 blood test has found this test picked up 85% of invasive ovarian cancers.

There is also another test called the ROMA test. It stands for Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm and this relatively new NICE approved test combines a CA 125 blood test result with another protein called HE4 and using an algorithm that also takes into consideration menopausal status produces a risk malignancy risk score for Ovarian Cancer.

HE4 is a new marker that has been shown to be over-expressed even in the first stages of ovarian cancer (stages I and II) and is mainly found in serous, endometrial and clear-cell cancers. Its presence is independent of CA 125 and it is effective in 50% of cancers that do not express CA 125. DM us and we’ll send you a FREE information sheet on this new test.