Whole-Genome Characterization of Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancer

(May 28, 2015) In an effort to study treatment options for high-grade serous ovarian cancer, scientists from the University of Queensland and Sydney’s Millennium Institute collected DNA from 92 patients to find out what makes those cells so resistant to chemotherapy.  OCRF Scientific Advisory Committee members Ronny Drapkin, MD, PhD, and Ernst Lengyel, MD, PhD, were co-authors on the paper, which was published in Nature.

Learning more about how this disease grows, and how these cells interact with one another, will hopefully lead to fewer recurrences and, one day, more effective treatments. The DNA they extracted came from tumors at various stages of growth, which has given them a whole new perspective of disease/treatment evolution.

To read the abstract from Nature, click here, or read an article from the University of Queensland here.