Ovarian cancer under the microscope with vaccine push

Vaccines would tailor cancer treatment to an individual, with researchers appealing for governments to take the financial burden off charities in the sector.

Olivia Curtis was diagnosed with serous ovarian cancer in 2020.

For Olivia Curtis, discovering how outdated her treatment options where to fight against serous ovarian cancer was almost as tough as finding out about her potentially lethal diagnosis.

“The treatments that were developed that we’re still using today were in use when I was watching the first round of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” the mother of three said.

“It’s not the sexy cancer. My cancer is found in less than 1 per cent of women. It’s very resistant to chemo, and therefore, women in my position more often than not die.”

That could all be about to change.

One avenue for treatment is a cancer vaccine and, with a new funding push, it could be the key to a breakthrough in ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer regularly sees a disparity in funding compared to more well-known cancer varieties. Looking to right that is University of Queensland professor Kristen Radford, a researcher developing the preclinical outline for an ovarian cancer vaccine which could spare patients some of the treatment Ms Curtis went through, involving an aggressive tumour surgery followed by a week in intensive care, 17 days in hospital and six rounds of chemotherapy in conjunction with hormone therapies.

Professor Radford’s research is one of three Australian studies being funded through a new Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) grant worth $2.4 million as a part of its national research grants scheme.

The OCRF’s funding, announced on Thursday, was sourced entirely through community donations. The OCRF is the leading non-government ovarian cancer research fundraiser.

Prof Radford has worked in cancer immunotherapies for 20 years.

University of Queensland professor and ovarian cancer research Kristen Radford.

“My hospital in Queensland in particular has a large number of ovarian cancer patients that are in need of better treatments. So the study is motivated by our own our own patients,” she said.

“What our research does is really trying to teach the immune response to recognise and fight cancer, and how we can harness that to develop new vaccines and therapies.”

The Mater Health researcher stressed the need for better government funding in ovarian cancer research, rather than a reliance on community funding.

“We need to do better. We need new treatments. And the only way we’re going to find them is by discovery,” Prof Radford said.

Cancer vaccines can act as a personalised therapy that may reduce the risk of secondary cancers by up to 50 per cent in patients when paired with an immunotherapy drug. Immunotherapy drugs, also commonly administered through a vaccine, help prevent cancer recurrence, halt the growth of a tumour and eradicate remaining cancer cells after treatment by empowering the body’s natural immune system.

Australia is a world leader in the field, with ongoing tests for their uses in treating breast cancer and brain cancer.

Fellow University of Queensland professor Salomon Gallo will run another of the OCRF funded ovarian cancer studies.

His research aims to pioneer a new diagnostic test that could distinguish ovarian cancer earlier from various cancerous or gynaecological conditions like endometriosis.

Dr Dane Cheasley from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Melbourne is the final grant recipient and is researching a treatment to target low grade serous ovarian cancer, which accounts for 10 per cent of ovarian cancer cases.

Close up of a nurses gloved hands as she carefully preps a syringe with the Covid-19 Vaccine.

OCRF CEO Robin Penty emphasised the lack of progress into ovarian cancer treatments in the past.

“Ovarian cancer is the most lethal reproductive cancer, regardless of gender,” she said. “It’s estimated we’ll see over 1,800 new cases in Australia this year, and less than half of those patients will be alive in five years’ time.”

“These patients will receive very similar treatments to those my grandmother received four decades ago. We need genuine step-change, and funding innovative research is the only way to achieve that.”