The world’s first vaccine for ovarian cancer – being developed in the UK – could completely eliminate the deadly disease that kills thousands of women across the globe every year, according to researchers from the University of Oxford. Scientists say they are creating OvarianVax - a vaccine that would help the immune system to recognize and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer - that develops in the ovaries or nearby structures like the fallopian tubes or abdominal lining. According to experts, they hope the jab will be given to women as a preventive measure against this cancer to wipe it off completely.
Researchers say it would work similarly to the human papillomavirus or HPV jab – which is on track to stamp out cervical cancer. HPV jabs are being given to secondary school children – both boys and girls – and those high risk of the virus, cutting their risk of getting conditions linked to HPV - including cervical cancer and genital warts. How is OvarianVax being created? A team of scientists from the University, led by Dr.
Ahmed Ahmed, director of the ovarian cancer cell laboratory at MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, are working to identify cellular targets for their ovarian cancer vaccine. They are working on establishing proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells which can easily be identified by the immune system – and kill mini-models of ovarian cancer in the lab. The scientists hope to mo.