From developing viruses as treatments, to leading clinical trials for women whose cancer has come back – our scientists are working hard to improve outcomes for women with ovarian cancer. Below are some examples of what our researchers are doing right now.
Dr Shibani Nicum is leading the ICON9 clinical trial, which is seeing if treating people with a combination of two drugs called olaparib and cediranib could improve outcomes for patients whose cancer has come back after treatment. If shown to be effective, this new treatment could become the standard of care for people with relapsed ovarian cancer.
Specific faults in how DNA is repaired can make tumours more sensitive to treatment. Dr James Brenton in Cambridge is developing ways to detect patterns of faults in ovarian tumours. He’s also developing blood tests that could quickly predict whether patients are responding to treatment. This could help doctors choose the best treatment for each patient and help us understand why many ovarian cancers come back after treatment.
Professor Antonis Antoniou and his collaborators, in Cambridge, are developing a tool called CanRisk to predict people’s risk of getting ovarian, breast and prostate cancer by combining genetic, lifestyle and hormonal risk factors. Accurately predicting cancer risk will mean people at high cancer risk can be monitored more closely, to catch the disease earlier, when treatment is more likely to be effective. It will also help in identifying those who will benefit most from prevention options, such as risk-reducing surgery or risk-reducing medication.
Read more about the CanRisk tool
Thanks to research, we've helped change the outlook for women with ovarian cancer.
Find out more about past research
Explore our timeline of research into ovarian cancer
Meet people like Amanda who have experienced first-hand how our research is making a difference. The life-saving research we do wouldn’t be possible without your support.
Read stories from ovarian cancer patients
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