Ovarian Cancer Action launches Internationally important UK-wide research collaborative
FIRST EVER UK-WIDE COLLABORATION IN OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH LAUNCHED BY OVARIAN CANCER ACTION
BriTROC enables creation of nationwide ovarian cancer tissue and bio specimen bank
14/02/2012: Today marks the launch of the UK’s first nationwide laboratory research collaborative in ovarian cancer. The initiative - known as BriTROC (British Translational Research Ovarian cancer Collaborative) – will enable the creation of a high-quality nationwide tissue and bio specimen bank. The main focus of the collaborative is to look at the molecular characteristics of tumours that recur despite treatment — addressing an important unmet need that has been identified as critically important by international experts in ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer currently kills one woman every two hours in the UK, and British women are less likely than women in Europe and the Western world to survive longer than one year from diagnosis. UK mortality rates for the disease rank 7th in Europe.
Up until now, a biopsy is only taken from women with ovarian cancer at the point of diagnosis and subsequent biopsies are not taken as a matter of routine. BriTROC funding will ensure that all eight centres around the UK involved in the collaboration can collect biopsies throughout the progression of individual patient’s cancer. The resulting databank will ensure that researchers will be able to study how a woman’s cancer changes over time.
The UK ovarian cancer translational research community has come together to develop the BriTROC collaborative and the project is funded entirely by Ovarian Cancer Action, the national charity for ovarian cancer. Initial membership of the collaborative is drawn from eight centres around the UK in which significant translational research in ovarian cancer is undertaken – including Ovarian Cancer Action’s Research Centre (OCARC), the Imperial College research centre dedicated entirely to defeating ovarian cancer. All members are part of the Department of Health/Cancer Research UK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre Network which will provide the infrastructure to BriTROC.
Professor Iain McNeish, co-chief investigator of BriTROC and Professor of Gynaecological Oncology at Barts Cancer Institute said: “This collaborative gives us a unique opportunity to improve the outlook for women with ovarian cancer, by studying, in detail, the changes in their cancer over time: this will help us understand why ovarian cancer stops responding to chemotherapy and help us to develop new treatments for ovarian cancer that comes back despite initially successful treatment”
Ovarian cancer is a complex disease and there is an urgent need to identify targets to progress tailored treatment options for women in the future. A significant problem at present is the fact that high grade serous ovarian cancer is very diverse with many different genetic changes, each requiring a detailed understanding of its particular make-up in terms of its molecules and potential therapeutic targets. The BriTROC data will help researchers understand ovarian cancer better, leading to therapies suited to the specific tumour - so-called personalised medicine.
It will also aid researchers in determining the mechanisms of drug resistance. Whilst women can be treated extremely effectively with surgery and chemotherapy, the disease can reoccur for many women in a more aggressive form. 70% of women with recurrent ovarian cancer ultimately develop resistance to platinum based chemotherapy after initial treatment, leaving oncologists a significant deficit in treatment options to combat the disease.
The initiative will also provide data that will aid researchers to evaluate proteins shed by cancer cells that act as ‘biomarkers’ to indicate resistance to chemotherapy – ensuring that patients are offered appropriate treatment options in the future if they are resistant to chemotherapy.
All these imperatives require substantial sequential collection of tumour material during the course of disease.
The development of tissue and specimen banks is regarded as strategically important in treatment development across many fields of medical science. A number of other research charities are developing or supporting such banks.
Professor Hani Gabra, Director of the Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre said: ‘‘We’re extremely hopeful that BriTROC can help overcome some of the main challenges of ovarian cancer, treating the disease more effectively, limiting the recurrence of the disease, and expanding the treatment options for patients to keep them alive and well. These challenges mean that currently only 40-45% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will survive five years, and of course we need to do much better than this.”
Professor McNeish added: “These sorts of collaborations are absolutely vital in improving the survival rates for ovarian cancer in the UK. This collaborative will be an internationally unique resource. The funding from Ovarian Cancer Action will enable us to start answering really, really fundamental questions and to start developing new treatments for our patients.”
In this first project, members of the collaborative will establish the infrastructure and working practices, and demonstrate the ability to work together to a common set of standard operating procedures. Well-annotated clinical information for patients with relapsed ovarian cancer coupled to cancer and personal genetic information, together with treatment response and survival outcomes will be collected. These data sets are vital to develop individualised care and genomic biomarkers for choosing and monitoring treatment.
Co-chief investigator Dr James Brenton, Senior Group Leader at Cancer Research UK said: “This study is essential to change the way in which we understand and treat relapsed disease in ovarian cancer. We want to transform this difficult clinical problem by using new sequencing technologies that will explain how ovarian cancer changes to become resistant to treatment. We can't do this without the help of women with ovarian cancer and Ovarian Cancer Action to obtain these vital biopsies.”
Gilda Witte, CEO Ovarian Cancer Action said: “Ovarian Cancer Action immediately recognised the importance of the BriTROC collaborative and that is why we are funding it in entirety. This is a horrible disease and it is vital that we understand its complexity in order to combat its many challenges. Too many women die from it and we have to stop that. We implore women to come forward to participate in BriTROC.”
Importantly, the BriTROC Collaborative is keen to demonstrate the immediate scientific relevance of this sample collection by constructing the specimen collection around specific clinical trials to ensure standardisation of clinical parameters, treatment, imaging and data collection.
In the first instance, the collaborative will use these samples to investigate the cancer’s defective DNA repair pathways (called homologous recombination deficiency) in response to the chemotherapy drug platinum. Thus the biopsies will complement a Cancer Research UK-funded clinical trial of a drug called a PARP inhibitor in women with relapsed, high grade serous ovarian cancer and this will lay the foundations for future clinical trials in other subtypes of ovarian cancer.
Host sites include The Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre, based at Imperial College London; Bart’s Cancer Institute, London; Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute; The Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre, Edinburgh; Northern Institute of Cancer Research/Northern Gynaecological Cancer Centre, Newcastle; Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Glasgow; St James Institute of Oncology and Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, Leeds; and Christie Hospital, Manchester.
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For more information contact: Tania Pearson on 0300 456 4706 and tpearson@ovarian.org.uk
Notes to Eds
Ovarian Cancer Action
Ovarian Cancer Action is the UK’s leading ovarian cancer charity, dedicated to improving survival rates for women with ovarian cancer. It funds innovative research into the disease at the Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre; raises awareness of the symptoms with national awareness campaigns aimed at women and healthcare workers; and gives a voice to those affected by it, acting as an advocate with policymakers, healthcare professionals and scientists.
Ovarian Cancer Action funds a broad range of research to achieve accurate and early detection of ovarian cancer, more effective treatments as well as preventative measures to combat the disease.
Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre
The Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre is dedicated to defeating ovarian cancer. Its research is focused on developing a better understanding of the disease in order to prevent, diagnose earlier and more accurately, treat more completely and improve length and quality of life of those with the disease.
The Ovarian Cancer Action’s Research Centre at London, Hammersmith Hospital, brings together Imperial College Healthcare clinicians and Imperial College London academics. The Centre is led by Professor Hani Gabra, Professor of Molecular Oncology at Imperial College London, and honorary consultant in medical oncology at Imperial College Healthcare.
Ovarian cancer statistics and facts
Ovarian cancer is currently fifth most common cancer among women and each year 6,500 UK women are diagnosed with it. It’s the most deadly of the gynaecological cancers and the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women. Ovarian cancer has one of the poorest survival rates of all cancers in the UK.
There is currently no screening tool, but if found in the early stages up to 90% of women will survive for more than five years. Most women in the UK are not diagnosed until it has already spread, resulting in poor survival rates.
Mature pre and post-menopausal 40 plus women are more likely to be prone to the disease due to life-stage. The majority is unaware of ovarian cancer, and those that are aware know very little about it. They may have suffered the symptoms but confused them for minor ailments.
Ovarian cancer symptoms
- Persistent pelvic and stomach pain
- Increased abdominal size / persistent bloating - not bloating that comes and goes
- Difficulty eating and feeling full quickly
Occasionally other symptoms such as urinary symptoms, changes in bowel habit, extreme fatigue or back pain may also be experienced on their own or at the same time as those listed above.