2008 Mentored Investigator Grant Recipient — Takayo Ota, MD, PhD
Project Summary
Recent advances in understanding ovarian cancer suggest that epithelial ovarian cancer can be classified into two groups: low-grade type I cancer which progress slowly from well-defined precursor lesions, and high-grade type II cancer which progress rapidly with ill-defined precursor lesions. Since type II tumors progress rapidly, most patients with type II ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed at an advance stage. Better understanding of genetic alterations associated with progression of type II ovarian cancer is expected to facilitate the discovery of novel biomarkers for early detection and the identification of novel therapeutic targets. Dr. Ota’s proposal will generate mouse models to study the early carcinogenesis of type II ovarian cancer and study ovarian cancer stem cells, a population of self-generating cells that keep the tumor alive, for therapeutic intervention.