Investigators at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have discovered a way that may help ovarian cancer patients who no longer respond to conventional chemotherapy. A scientific paper that will be published in the September issue of the journal Gynecologic Oncology describes how the inhibition of a protein, CHEK1, may be an effective element to incorporate into therapies for women with ovarian cancer. The research led by TGen’s Dr. David Azorsa, a Senior Investigator, and Dr…

Novartis announced that patupilone (EPO906) did not show a significant overall survival advantage in a phase III trial of patients with advanced ovarian cancer, refractory or resistant to platinum-based therapy The comparator arm in the trial was Doxil®/Caelyx® (pegylated liposomal doxorubicin). Investigators involved in the study and regulatory agencies have been notified of the trial outcome. No new or unexpected serious adverse events in the patupilone arm were identified in the trial. Novartis does not plan to proceed with regulatory filings based on these data…

Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) have found that drinking tea may decrease your risk of developing ovarian cancer. Lead researcher Dr Christina Nagle from QIMR’s Gynaecological Cancer Group said, “Our results indicate that drinking more than four cups a day of black, green or herbal tea may reduce ovarian cancer risk by almost 30%.” Dr Nagle said that despite previous animal studies suggesting that tea can inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer cells, the results of human studies have been inconsistent…

Pre-treatment with curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric, makes ovarian cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Researchers found that delivering the curcumin via very small (less than 100nm) nanoparticles enhanced the sensitizing effect.

Pre-treatment with curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric, makes ovarian cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access Journal of Ovarian Research found that delivering the curcumin via very small (less than 100nm) nanoparticles enhanced the sensitizing effect. Subhash Chauhan, PhD, and Meena Jaggi, PhD, led a team of researchers from Sanford Research and the University of South Dakota, USA, who carried out the in vitro study…

Chronic stress has recently been implicated as a factor that may accelerate the growth of tumors. However, the mechanisms underlying this effect have not been determined. But now, Anil Sood and colleagues, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, have generated data using human ovarian cancer cell lines and tumor specimens that indicate that stress hormones, especially norepinephrine and epinephrine, can contribute to tumor progression in patients with ovarian cancer…

Clarient, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLRT), a premier technology and services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the pharmaceutical industry, announced that data from a new study shows that Clarient’s Ovotax™ assay may effectively predict which ovarian cancer patients will respond favorably to taxane therapy and could, therefore, be spared the potential side effects of this rigorous and sometimes toxic chemotherapy agent. The study was presented yesterday at the national meeting on Women’s Cancer of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists by Janelle Fauci, M.D…

Scientists may have uncovered a mechanism for resistance to paclitaxel in ovarian cancer, microRNA-31, suggesting a possible therapeutic target for overcoming chemotherapy resistance. Mohamed K. Hassan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Hokkaido University in Japan, completed the research as a collaborative study with his colleagues when he was a professional assistant in South Valley University in Egypt. Results of this study were presented at the second AACR Dead Sea International Conference on Advances in Cancer Research: From the Laboratory to the Clinic, held March 7-10, 2010…

Removal of the ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) while performing a hysterectomy is common practice to prevent the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. This prophylactic procedure is performed in 55 percent of all US women having a hysterectomy, or approximately 300,000 times each year. An article in the March/April issue of the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology suggests that this procedure may do more harm than good.. William H…

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (”CTI”) (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) announced that CTI received a statement on March 1, 2010 from the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) leadership that the phase III GOG-212 clinical trial of CTI’s OPAXIO™ used as maintenance therapy for ovarian cancer remains a high priority and enrollment will continue. The GOG made the statement to clarify that the recent results of the GOG-218 clinical trial bevacizumab in maintenance therapy for ovarian cancer has not influenced the importance of completing the GOG-212 clinical trial…