2013 Ann and Sol Schreiber Mentored Investigator Award Recipient — Christine Lawson, PhD
Project Summary
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the United States and has the highest mortality rate of all gynecologic malignancies. In average there will be 22, 280 new cases and 15,500 deaths due to ovarian cancer in 2012 in the United States. The lifetime probability of a women developing ovarian cancer is 1 in 70 and most patients present with advanced disease, which is managed with surgical resection followed by platinum-based chemotherapy. Despite advances in surgical and chemotherapeutic approaches, the resistance of ovarian cancer cells to traditional cytotoxic agents is a major obstacle for treatment and better therapeutic approaches for ovarian cancer are needed. This research project will study how ovarian cancer spreads from the primary tumor to other sites in the body. Key steps in this process are the acquisition of a motile phenotype and the ability of cancer cells to survive upon detachment from the primary tumor. Enhanced cell migration enables the cancer to invade into surrounding tissue or vasculature, and augmented cell survival promotes cancer cell growth in other parts of the body. Particularly, the research will be focused on the molecular signaling events within cancer cells that control cell migration and survival in ovarian cancer. By understanding why ovarian cancer cells become invasive and migrate to other tissues, we will be able to target and block this process and design better treatments to restrict the spread of ovarian cancer through the body.
This grant was made possible through the generous support of the University of California Office of the President’s Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program.