Ramping up Research
A multipronged attack on ovarian cancer
By Robert Levy
Notorious for its ability to start furtively but advance aggressively, ovarian cancer is now the target of a coordinated research attack at Dana-Farber and its affiliated hospitals and schools, thanks to a new $11 million award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Daniel Cramer, MD, leads the new Specialized Program of Research Excellence—or SPORE—in ovarian cancer.
The grant, known as a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE), will fund a group of studies that aim to find practical uses—new therapies, diagnostic techniques, and prevention programs—for laboratory discoveries. The money will be distributed over four-and-a-half years to researchers throughout the Dana- Farber/Harvard Cancer Center or DF/HCC (the consortium of cancer scientists at Dana-Farber and six other Harvard-affiliated institutions).
"This is a very important grant because it supports research into the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer," says the SPORE's principal investigator, Daniel Cramer, MD, director of obstetrics and gynecology epidemiology at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center.
Ovarian cancer is diagnosed in about 27,000 women in the United States every year and claims the lives of more than 16,000, making it the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. Because it rarely causes pain or discomfort in its early stages, ovarian cancer usually isn't detected until it can no longer be easily treated. When symptoms do arise—such as nausea, vomiting, frequent urination, or constipation—they resemble those associated with less-serious problems. As a result, about 75 percent of cases aren't identified until the disease has reached an advanced stage, when it is most dangerous.
"Because one of the ways to improve the outcome of patients is to find an ovarian cancer when it is small and localized to the ovary, it is critical to develop ways to detect the disease early," says Ursula Matulonis, MD, of the Gillette Center for Women's Cancers at Dana-Farber. "The researchers within the SPORE will not only look for early detection means, but also try to better understand what leads an ovary to become cancerous."
With so many lives at stake, the NCI created the SPORE program to encourage the kind of research most likely to yield rapid advances. Each study covered by a SPORE grant has two principal investigators—a basic scientist and a clinician—so researchers can pounce on laboratory discoveries and harness them to the search for better treatments.
Each study also brings together researchers from different fields to take advantage of the creative ferment generated by collaborative work. The new SPORE—one of only five nationwide to focus on ovarian cancer—teams Dana-Farber and Harvard investigators with colleagues at several other research centers.
"Gynecologic cancer research is entering an exciting time where we have new opportunities to make important advances in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of ovarian cancer," says Ross Berkowitz, MD, director of Gynecologic Oncology Service at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center.
The size and comprehensiveness of SPORE grants have made them among the most sought-after sources of funding for cancer research in the United States. "The goal is to support research that is translational in nature, linking the worlds of basic science and clinical care, so patients are quick to benefit," Dr. Cramer observes.
The DF/HCC SPORE team will focus on five projects, including:
- A study of how genes and the environment interact to raise or lower ovarian cancer risk;
- A hunt for proteins or other "biomarkers" in blood that might serve as early warning signs of the formation of ovarian tumors;
- A search for the first genetic changes in ovarian cells' transformation into tumor cells;
- A test of compounds potentially able to overcome the all-too-common problem of drug resistance in ovarian tumors;
- A clinical trial of novel ovarian cancer therapeutic vaccines.
- Next: The sensitive tumor
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