Together, these and other findings strongly suggest that immunotherapies that can induce or enhance optimal immunologic conditions within ovarian cancers may hold great promise for extending the
lives of ovarian cancer patients.
By evaluating the molecular changes that occur in large
cohorts of ovarian cancer patients, the researchers were able to identify several lncRNAs that are linked to the disease.
The clinical
course of ovarian cancer patients is marked by periods of remission and relapse of sequentially shortening duration until chemotherapy resistance develops.
«Our study suggests a therapeutic benefit for repurposing a well - tolerated inhibitor with limited toxicity to treat a specific
group of ovarian cancer patients with high levels of CARM1 expression,» said Sergey Karakashev, Ph.D., first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the Zhang Lab.
«The current options for maintenance therapy in the EU are bevacizumab, which can only be given once and improves progression - free survival by just a few months, and the PARP inhibitor olaparib, which is only approved in patients with a germline BRCA mutation (about 10 - 15 %
of ovarian cancer patients).
Niraparib significantly improved all endpoints across a broad patient population representing 70 %
of all ovarian cancer patients.
In the proposed project, Dr. Lampi Hermanson will produce NK cells from stem cells, inserting a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) with the capacity to recognize mesothelin cells, which is expressed in 70 %
of ovarian cancer patients.
[pagebreak] Chemo is getting better Between 70 and 90 %
of ovarian cancer patients have a recurrence.