The world’s first vaccine for ovarian cancer – being developed in the UK – could wipe out the deadly disease, researchers say. Scientists at the University of Oxford are creating OvarianVax, a vaccine that teaches the immune system to recognise and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer. The hope is that the jab could be given to women preventatively on the NHS with the aim of eliminating the disease.
The treatment could be used to assist women like Scottish comedian Janey Godley , who is now receiving end-of-life care for ovarian cancer. Experts suggest it could work in a similar way to the human papillomavirus (HPV) jab, which is on track to stamp out cervical cancer. For the new work, Professor Ahmed Ahmed, director of the ovarian cancer cell laboratory at MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine the University of Oxford, and his team are identifying cellular targets for the vaccine.
They will establish which proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells are most strongly recognised by the immune system, and how effectively the vaccine kills mini-models of ovarian cancer in the lab. They will then move on to human clinical trials in people with BRCA gene mutations – which massively increase the risk of ovarian cancer – and healthy women in the general population to see if the disease could be prevented. Cancer Research UK is funding the study with up to £600,000 over the next three years.
Prof Ahmed said that, if the jab is successfu.
