New hope for women suffering from ovarian cancer
A new promising therapeutic combination to fight ovarian cancer
A new study published in the world-renowned scientific journal « Clinical Cancer Research » gives new hope to women suffering from ovarian cancer. For the last decades, there has been little scientific progress for this type of cancer, which has a low five-year survival rate of 44 %.
The research resulting in this major scientific leap was conducted by Dr. Jim Petrick’s lab, at University of Guelph in Ontario and was largely funded by the Cancer Research Society. The Society also provided a scholarship to an intern who contributed to this recent publication.
Treatments
So far, cancer treatments have focused on destroying blood vessels supplying tumors, hoping to weaken them. This approach did not achieve the expected results as destroying their supply would very often make tumors more aggressive.
Dr. Petrik’s work showed that, unlike what one would expect, a better vascularization of the tumor makes it easier to destroy. By only destroying defective blood vessels, the new method helps make the tumor smaller and less aggressive. It also allows for a more efficient vascular system, which will give treatments better access to the cancerous cells. Subsequently, the research team combined this approach with a treatment based on oncolytic viruses. This resulted in an enhanced capability for viruses to access and attack cancerous cells.
This treatment combination resulted in a regression of advanced stage tumors, and more importantly, it eradicated the spread o of cancerous cells toward other organs. This phenomenon, called metastasis, is the actual cause of death in ovarian cancer.
The Cancer Research Society congratulates Dr. Petrik’s team for this exceptional work, which has the potential of improving chances of survival for patients.
La Société de recherche sur le cancer félicite l’équipe du Dr Petrik pour ce travail exceptionnel qui a le potentiel d’améliorer les chances de survie des patientes.