OCRFA Funded Study Focuses on the Dissemination of Ovarian Cancer

(April 27, 2018) An OCRFA supported study, recently published in Oncogene, delved into the mechanics of how ovarian cancer spreads throughout the body. Researchers at Johns Hopkins, including OCRFA grantee and lead author Ie-Ming Shih, MD, PhD, investigated spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), which is heavily involved in ovarian cancer tumor progression, in an effort to understand the role it plays in the invasion and dissemination of cancer cells.

Dr. Shih, along with former OCRFA grantees Stephanie Gaillard, MD, PhD and Tian-Li Wang, PhD, have been evaluating a drug used in treating autoimmune diseases in its effectiveness in inhibiting ovarian cancer. The drug targets the network inside the cancer cell, which attributes to the invasiveness of the ovarian cancer cells into normal tissue. “The clinical trial using this drug in ovarian cancer patients is ongoing at Johns Hopkins Hospital and we will know for sure if this drug can benefit many ovarian cancer patients in the near future,” says Dr. Shih.

Other works from the ovarian cancer team at Johns Hopkins as supported by OCRFA can be found here: www.gynecologycancer.org.